Dancing to a New Beat
by Chakat StarDust
Summary: Dancing to a New Beat: After the tournament's abrupt end, Marco puts Jeanne into ballet to keep her from getting bored. The hip-hop dancing of an eccentric-looking young woman catches her eye and Jeanne unexpectedly finds herself in a friendship that could change the way she lives her life.
1. Chapter 1

Star: New story, with a slightly familiar face for those who have read my other Shaman King stories, say hello again to Geni, with some personality and back-story changes. For the purpose of this story I upped Jeanne's age to 13 at the time of the tournament. You'll understand why later. I own nothing, so enjoy the story!

"Marco, I'm bored." Lady Jeanne, the Iron Maiden, the saint-girl of the X-Laws said. It was not a whine, she was far too dignified to whine, but it was very close to a plea. Icy blue eyes flashed behind glasses as Marco looked up from his book at her.

"My lady, there are many things for you to do here." He said. Jeanne resisted the urge to roll her rose-coloured eyes. Sometimes her guardian could be so thick.

"I am stuck here, day after day. Surely you do not intend to keep me cooped up forever." She said. "The tournament has been halted for months, we must think about the possibility that it will not start again."

"My lady, the world outside is a sinful mire of darkness." Marco said.

"My faith is strong, do you deny that?" Jeanne asked. "You think I cannot stand up to this test?"

"Of course not." The blonde yelped, sounding horrified. "You are perfect." He added, reaching out to twirl a lock of her long silver hair around his fingers. "What did you have in mind?" Jeanne made an effort not to smile triumphantly.

"I want to learn to dance."

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"It will be a half an hour after your lesson or more before I can pick you up." Marco said. "Are you certain you will be fine?"

"Marco, do you have faith in me or not?" Jeanne asked.

"Of course I do." Marco replied. "Have fun, my lady."

"I will, Marco." Jeanne replied, opening the door and getting out of the car. She strode up to the dance studio and changed inside into a full body black leotard. She'd done some dancing before the tournament; Minne had been a ballet instructor once and had taught Jeanne a few things, but now Minne was gone.

She took a breath and forced all thoughts out of her mind, going through the moves that she could remember, feeling the familiar flex and strain of her muscles. She didn't often get to exert herself physically, her power was such that she did not even need her body to win a match. She wasn't supposed to strain herself, her body was a temple, but it felt so good to move and stretch and make those muscles work.

The dance class was well enough, at least it got her moving and she learned a couple of new movements, but most of the girls already knew each other, and she didn't want to associate with the sinners anyways. She didn't know what she would talk about to them, in any case, she knew very well what she did wasn't 'normal'.

She was waiting for Marco to show up when she heard the sound of music coming from one of the dance studios. Curiosity was considered a pathway to sin, but so far Jeanne had not been able to completely squash the curious urge inside her. She sat for a couple minutes, just listening, twisting the fabric of her long dress in her hands.

Finally she could take it no more and got up, following the sound of the music. It was somewhat jarring sounding music, the tone almost angry, the notes fast, loud and heavy sounding. It wasn't what she was used to, and it was somewhat unpleasant.

She finally came to the doorway of one of the dance studios and peered inside. There was someone dancing in there, but it wasn't the beautiful, airy, flowing movements of ballet. These movements looked almost angry, like the person was fighting, with someone else, or themselves. Each movement did flow into the next, but instead of being like a gust of wind the movements were rooted in the earth, with stamping, slamming of the body and other moves. The dancer moved sharply, fast, and jolting from one movement to the next; it had rhythm, but to Jeanne's eyes it was unrefined, trashy and inelegant.

The person noticed her watching and halted, breathing heavily. She was clearly female, her breasts probably aiming towards d-cups and her hips curving. She looked to be a few years older than Jeanne herself, with slightly chubby cheeks and fleshy thighs and belly. She certainly didn't have the refined look of a trained dancer, though her arms looked strong with muscle.

The girl tilted her head and Jeanne noticed that one eye was a bright green-blue and the other a deep, almost navy blue. Her hair stood up around her head in soft spikes of black with electric blue tips. Her skin was tanned, shoulders, cheeks and long, slightly hooked nose dusted liberally with freckles.

"Well, hello." The girl drawled in a friendly tone. "Haven't seen you around here before."

"Who are you?" Jeanne demanded.

"I'm Geni, spelled G-E-N-I." The girl explained. "What's your name?" Jeanne considered the question; if she said Lady Jeanne, or the Iron Maiden, this girl would wonder what was wrong with her. It was better for her to blend in for now.

"Jeanne."

"Pretty." Geni commented, grinning and showing off a chipped tooth.

"I don't like your dancing, it seems evil." Jeanne said. "You should dance ballet." Geni stared at her, tilting her head further to the side.

"You one of them crazy church people?" She asked bluntly. "My dancing is not evil, it's hip-hop and it's just as good as ballet."

"It's so… jarring and ugly."

"Maybe to you." Geni said. "Listen, you dance what you want, and I'll dance what I want, you got it? No need to be rude about it."

"But-"

"It's all the same anyhow. Dancing, you know?" Geni shrugged. "It's about expressing yourself, and if one person feels a connection to hip-hop and someone else to ballroom, what's the matter with that?"

"There are many dances that make it look like you're asking for sex." Jeanne said stiffly. Geni just laughed.

"Do you know what dancing is in the animal world? It's a mating ritual. Humans are animals too, so dancing sexy is just us following biology." Geni grinned. "And hip-hop ain't always sexy, I know it features in rap which has a lot of sexual undertones in it, but a dance can be anything you want it to be, in any style. Right now, I was a bit angry, so I dance it out."

"You're no professional though." Jeanne pointed out, eying her body. Geni looked down at her belly and shrugged.

"Don't have to be to enjoy it." Geni said. "I help around the place, my aunt owns the place, I work with the tech, help out with the classes a little bit and dance in the Christmas pageant. In return she lets me stay in the apartment above this place for less rent a month and lets me dance in the studio if no one else is using it." She shrugged her shoulders. "It's a good deal."

"How old are you?" Jeanne asked.

"Sixteen." Geni answered cheerily.

"You live on your own? You're so young." Jeanne said.

"Dad's a diplomat, he travels a lot. Got sick of moving around all the time, so Auntie said she'd let me live in the apartment here, she's got no space in her place you see." Geni explained. "It's not too bad, my dad pays for the place so long as I'm working and earning money for school, keep my doors locked at night and I have gun registered to me."

"You shouldn't have a weapon." Jeanne said with disapproval.

"I shouldn't have to have a weapon, but in this day and age it's just smart to have a weapon on hand." Geni replied. "I'm a pretty good shot, thinking of entering a competition someday."

"I don't approve."

"You don't have to approve." Geni replied. "Why do you care what I do anyways?" She asked, looking at Jeanne strangely.

"Someone has to care about saving your soul." Jeanne said. Geni laughed again.

"Honey, if I'm going to hell, it ain't gonna be because of my taste in music, trust me."

"What does that mean?" Jeanne demanded, but she heard Marco honk the horn from her outside. It would not do to keep him waiting, so she turned her back and left the room. As she left the music was switched back on again.

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Star: Review plz!


	2. Chapter 2

Star: I own nothing!

Jeanne wasn't sure why she was going to talk to Geni again. The girl had been rude to her, laughing at Jeanne's attempts to get her to see the light. Perhaps that was why, because Geni so obviously needed to be shown the light and Jeanne herself was obviously the only one around who could do it.

The music was different today, less jarring, but with more percussion beats. The singing was actual singing this time too, none of that rap nonsense. She watched Geni move, seeing a different tone of dancing in her body language.

"It's Florence and the Machine." Geni said, jarring Jeanne out of her thoughts.

"Excuse me?"

"The music, it's the Drumming Song by Florence and the Machine." Geni explained. "Pretty, huh?"

"I suppose."

"This song kind of reminds me of Doctor Who, to be honest." Geni said.

"What is Doctor Who?" Jeanne asked. Geni blinked rapidly a couple times and then shook her head.

"It's a British sci-fi, it's one of the greatest things that humanity has ever come up with, and you should really watch it." Geni said. "It's gotten really popular over here now, but I guess I can forgive you for having never heard of it."

"How generous." Jeanne said, unable to keep the sarcasm from her voice. She doubted Marco would allow her to watch any 'sci-fi' and in any case she thought he was right. There was no reason for her to watch such tainted television shows, in fact she couldn't remember having ever actually watched television in her life; which led to her next question.

"What is that on your shirt?" Geni looked down at the smiling red-headed mermaid on her shirt and then looked at Jeanne again, eyes wide.

"You don't know who Ariel is?" She asked slowly. "Little Mermaid, Disney? Any of this ringing any bells?"

"No, I have never watched Disney." Jeanne said loftily. Geni stared at her a moment and then turned and smashed her forehead into the mirror twice.

"The hell kind of childhood have you had?" Geni demanded. "Never watched a Disney movie, good god."

"Mind your tongue." Jeanne admonished. "I am to remain pure."

"It's not like it's porn or something." Geni said, sounding exasperated. "Disney's got a lot of good messages to their stories, like following your dreams, learning from the past, sometimes adults do not know everything, and that love is the greatest power there is."

"I can learn everything I need to know from my studies." Jeanne replied.

"Yeah, I bet it's not as much fun though." Geni replied with a smirk. "You get talking animals, fun songs that get stuck in your head forever and even on your death bed you'll be able to belt out 'Let's Get Down to Business' and the animation is amazing and it's fun when you're older and you start to get the jokes that they slipped in there to give the parents a laugh, like the Genie, especially the Genie, the Genie is the greatest thing to ever exist."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Jeanne said, cutting off Geni's rambling.

"I'm talking about one of the greatest things ever, Disney. You need to watch Disney movies, I've still got a bunch you can borrow, I mean if you've got a VHS player still." Geni said.

"I must remain pure."

"You need to learn to let the world in, you're not going to stay a shut-in forever, are you?" Geni asked, cocking her head at her. Jeanne wasn't about to say that she was going to win the Shaman King tournament and cleanse the world of sin. Geni would probably just laugh at her again. "You gotta take chances, make mistakes and get messy, and you've probably never watched Magic School Bus either."

"It sounds ridiculous." Jeanne scoffed.

"It was actually pretty damned clever, perfect mix of educational that actually got you to learn something, and fun."

"Please watch your language." Jeanne said. Geni looked at her and got this crazy grin on her face.

"Fuck that shit." She said, looking quite pleased with herself.

"That is bad language." Jeanne admonished.

"Why? It's just a word. The only reason it's considered a bad word is because some person decided it was." Geni said.

"It's considered bad because of what it means." Jeanne argued.

"Depends on the context." Geni said. "Fuck one way means to have sex, which is a perfectly natural thing to do, the word fuck just makes it sound a little dirtier. The biggest use for the word fuck right now though is as a term used to express anger, pain or any other type of extreme emotional response. It's no different from saying something like darn, it just sounds a lot more explicit."

"Please stop saying it in my presence."

"Alright, if it bothers you that much, fine, I can swear in at least seven languages, so I'll choose something else." Geni replied, shrugging.

"Seven languages?" Jeanne repeated.

"My dad's a diplomat, so I've been all over." Geni explained. "You start to pick up on things, and I really like languages, so I kind of collect them. I'm currently working on learning Urdu."

"Seems like an odd past-time." Jeanne commented.

"I'm an odd bird." Geni said happily. "It's really bad when I get excited because I get all hyper and bounce off things, it's a lot of fun." Jeanne gave the girl a sceptical look. "You from France, aren't you?"

"How did you know?"

"Still got a bit of an accent there, I'm good at that too." Geni said proudly. She bounced in place like an over-eager puppy. "What are you doing all the way in America?"

Jeanne couldn't very well tell Geni that she was here for a tournament that would determine the fate of humanity. Granted the tournament wasn't on at the moment, but they'd chosen to stay in America, so they were close by if and when it started up again. "I am here because my guardian is from here and he feels this is where I will get the best education."

"Well, you ain't going to stay 'pure' for very long around here." Geni said with a smirk. "He'd be better off taking you out into the country and keeping you in a place where there's no one around for miles."

"That's really rude." Jeanne said.

"Is it? I can never tell." Geni said with a frown. "No brain filter, just say whatever's on my mind."

"I imagine that gets you into a lot of trouble." Jeanne said.

"Yup!" Geni replied cheerily.

"Why don't you stop?"

"You say that like it's so easy." Geni replied. "Could you stop acting so holier-than-thou at the drop of a hat?"

"I do not act holier-than-thou." Jeanne protested hotly.

"Ooh, but you do." Geni said, grinning savagely. "You watch me with this look on your face like you know something I don't, and you're so much better than me for it."

"You need to learn some manners." Jeanne retorted.

"Better folks than you have tried and failed." Geni replied blithely. "I'm untrainable."

"You shouldn't say that like it's a good thing." Jeanne admonished. Geni stuck her tongue out at her. Jeanne heard Marco honk and swept out of the room.

"See you later, princess." was Geni's parting shot.

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Star: Review plz!


	3. Chapter 3

Star: I own nothing!

Jeanne mentally prepared herself for her next encounter with Geni, taking calming breaths and walking slowly. She was not, in any way shape or form, dreading the encounter, not at all, that was a silly suggestion. She was just working out just how she was going to get through to the stubborn girl.

Something upbeat and seemingly composed of violin playing and added beats of what she'd heard was 'dubstep' was playing when she walked up. Geni wasn't even really dancing, just twirling around and leaping around like a four year old who didn't know anything about dance yet but wanted to move around.

Geni whirled past Jeanne and grabbed her arm, dragging her into the room and beginning to dance with her, a faintly crazy grin lighting up her face. Jeanne considered struggling, but decided just to go with it. Geni danced her around the room, taking on the role of the male lead. Jeanne had to admit the random movements were fun and when Geni spun her for one last time she laughed aloud in amusement.

"You have a very pretty laugh, you know?" Geni said, still dancing a little bit. "Should laugh more often."

"Why were you doing that?" Jeanne asked, catching her breath.

"Because I can." Geni replied, bouncing in place. "It's fun to let loose, dance, scream, jump around, sing, that sort of thing."

"I wouldn't know." Jeanne said stiffly.

"Aww, you gotta let loose sometimes, otherwise you'd explode from all the things you keep bottled up in your head." Geni said.

"I do not bottle things up." Jeanne protested.

"Now that I don't believe for a second, how old are you, twelve?" Geni asked.

"Thirteen." Geni tilted her head at her.

"You can't tell me you've never felt any sort of resentment, or anger, or a desire to hurt someone because they hurt you but kept it inside because it was better not to show it." She said. Jeanne opened her mouth and then closed it with a click. She had resented Marco sometimes, wishing she could do things that other people could, wished she could make friends, but he only did what he did to protect her. She just felt so stifled sometimes.

"It does not matter." She said. "What matters-"

"If you're going to get into that saving my soul thing again I say don't. I grew up a Christian and then decided it was bullshit." Geni said. "I'm an atheist now."

"You don't believe in god?" Jeanne asked, horrified.

"Nope." Geni said.

"Why?"

"Many reasons boiling down to I educated myself." Geni said, and then grimaced. "Not that people who are religious are uneducated, but I just mean I read and really got into what religion was all about and I found that I just didn't like it. And then I got into the science side of things and that makes a hell of a lot more sense than 'God just made things this way'."

"But doesn't it make life empty?" Jeanne asked.

"Why would it?" Geni asked, plopping down on the ground. "It's not like I change the things I do because I don't believe in a higher power. In my opinion I think someone who doesn't believe in a higher power lives a little more fully, because they're not constantly worried about eternal damnation and we know that this is all there is so we do all we can to have a full life."

"But how can you know what's right and what's wrong?" Jeanne demanded.

"Because I'm a decent person and don't do things that I know would hurt someone else." Geni said, giving her an odd look. "The idea that the only way people can be decent is because of the threat of eternal suffering after life is stupid."

"What do you mean?" Jeanne asked, perplexed.

"If the only reason you don't murder someone is so you don't go to hell are you really a good person or do you just know how to beat the system?" Geni asked. Jeanne stared at her for a moment, blinking rapidly.

"I… had not thought about it like that." She finally admitted. "But don't you want to see the people you love again?"

"It would be nice, but it's not something I think is necessary." Geni said. "I mean you've got the memories and so they always stay with you in that way. It's a nice thought, but so is the idea that their energy goes back into the universe, creating new things."

"What about the punishment of sinners in the afterlife? Don't you like that idea?" Jeanne asked. The debate was interesting, and she had to admit that Geni had some good points.

"Again, it's a nice idea, but I don't really like it either, just because of the way religion tends to portray it." Geni said.

"What do you mean?" Geni looked up at the ceiling, humming and rocking her body a little bit.

"It has to do with what gets you into hell." She said finally. "One of the things is if you don't believe in the 'right' god, you don't get to get into Heaven, right? Well, I think that's bullshit."

"Language, please." Jeanne reminded her.

"Sorry." Geni said insincerely. "Anyways, so what if someone is a really nice person, donates to charity, helps people, never has a bad word to say and would never hurt a fly. Only problem is they believe in the 'wrong' god. Is it fair to send them down to the same place as murderers and rapists to be tormented for all eternity?"

"Well, when you put it like that…" Jeanne said, frowning. Hadn't she condemned people for exactly that though? Refusing to see her way as the right way and for refusing to repent? Somehow, seeing it in that light, it made her uncomfortable.

"There's a lot of other reasons, but I won't get into that just now because I think your guardian is going to be here soon." Geni said. "If you'd like to have a look at some arguments against religion I've got some books you can read."

"What if I want to be religious?" Jeanne asked huffily.

"I got no problem with that, but I think, and my dad always said this too, that you should know both sides of the argument so that you can make an actual informed opinion on something, because otherwise it's just all that stuff that got shoved down your throat as a kid and it's not really been your choice, has it?"

"That is… strange logic, but my faith is strong. If you wish to test it, go ahead." Jeanne challenged. Geni grinned at her, mismatched eyes sparking with amusement.

"I'll be right back, just stay there and enjoy the clusterfuck that is my musical taste."

"Language!" Jeanne cried, but Geni was already out of the room. She sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. She couldn't even get Geni to listen to her about watching her mouth, how could she get her to listen about her sin? Although, she seemed to have some very convincing arguments herself; she could not let that sway her however.

"Here it is." Geni said triumphantly, coming back with a relatively thin yellow book. She tossed it at Jeanne, who caught it and looked at the title.

"God is not Great?" She read. "That's very blasphemous, don't you think?"

"Only if you believe in god, and this guy doesn't." Geni replied. "Thought this would be easier to start with than The God Delusion."

"I do not think Marco will allow this in the house." Jeanne realized. "He may even burn it." Geni's eyes widened.

"Burning books is awful, except for Twilight, they should be used as kindling." She said thoughtfully. "You wearing underwear underneath that thing?" She asked, gesturing to Jeanne's dress. Jeanne felt her face flush hot.

"Of course I am!" She snapped.

"Okay, just checking. If you could tuck the book into the waistband of your undies, he'd never know it's there, unless he strip-searches you of course."

"Marco would never!" Jeanne gasped, horrified.

"Hey, if he was, I'd be calling the cops right now." Geni said seriously. "No worries, princess."

"Don't call me that." Jeanne muttered. "Turn away."

"You know whatever you've got under there, I've got one too, right?" Geni said, raising her eyebrows. Jeanne glared at her and she rolled her eyes, but turned away. Jeanne awkwardly tucked the book into the waistband of her panties, making certain the book wouldn't be seen when she moved or sat down. As if waiting for that moment, Marco honked for her outside.

"Bring it back when you're done, let me know how you like it." Geni called.


	4. Chapter 4

Star: I own nothing!

Jeanne sat in her room, rereading one of the passages in the book she'd borrowed from Geni, working it around her mind. She'd found a few things that she'd agreed to, much to her surprise, but there were other things that she did not agree with. She hadn't even touched the chapter on sex; that would have been inappropriate.

It was nearly time to go, and so she tucked the book under her dress, fastening it to her leg by a ribbon, making certain the ribbon was cinched tight. It would be easier to carry this way and less likely to poke in sensitive areas. She headed downstairs with her bag for her dancing clothes and waited by the door patiently.

"My Lady." Marco greeted her. She smiled at him, wondering if he suspected at all that she'd been going behind his back. It was harmless, she told herself. How could she expect to have strong faith if it wasn't tested sometimes, after all?

She was silent for the drive to the dance studio and kissed Marco on the cheek goodbye. She walked up to the dance studio and heard Marco's car leave. She got changed and stepped into the room to begin the lesson. Her mind was preoccupied, impatient for the end of the lesson, so that she could see Geni.

The end of the lesson came, slower than she wanted it to, and she followed the sound of music to the other studio and waited for Geni to get done her dancing. "So, what did you think?" Geni asked without stopping.

"It was… interesting." Jeanne said.

"But you don't agree with it." Geni guessed and then did an impressive backflip.

"There's some things I could agree with, but I feel that's mostly because of how humans have interpreted scripture and twisted it for their own ends." Jeanne said.

"Could be right." Geni shrugged. "That's a lot of the problem I think, is that humans write this stuff, so if they have their own agenda…"

"And if god does not interfere…" Jeanne added.

"If there is a god, anyways." Geni reminded her.

"Yes, now my question to you is, if there is no god, where did the universe come from? Marco has told me that all scientists have are half-baked ideas." Jeanne said smugly.

"Not true." Geni said. "They've got plenty of theories."

"Theories are just guesses." Jeanne scoffed. Geni made an awful, alarm-like noise in reply.

"Wrong again!" She said, far too cheerfully. "A theory in science-y terms is an explanation for something that is observed backed up by experiments and observations done repeatedly and by different people."

"How do you know all this?" Jeanne demanded. "You seem to have an answer for everything."

"I read whatever I can get my hands on, so I know a little bit about just about everything there is to know in the world." Geni replied. "I have a book-"

"Of course you do." Jeanne said. Geni grinned wildly at her.

"I have a book on the origins of the universe and planets and stuff if you want to have a look at it." Geni offered.

"Why do you want me to read these things?" Jeanne asked.

"Because you seem like a smart person, princess, and I happen to think that people should be more educated than they are, and maybe we wouldn't have some of the problems we do." Geni said. "Besides, aren't you bored of reading the same thing over and over again?"

"That sounds awfully like the devil's tempting." Jeanne said, frowning. She'd met the devil; he had long brown hair, dark, ageless brown eyes and a charming smile. Hao Asakura; she almost shuddered to think of him.

"Well, maybe I'm playing devil's advocate a little bit, but sometimes you gotta to get people to really think, you know?" Geni said. "No harm ever came from reading a book."

"Words have power." Jeanne responded.

"They do, but only if you give them power. That's the way it works in all the fantasy novels, anyways." Geni replied cheekily. Jeanne thought of reprimanding her, but she saw that Geni was being humorous and decided to let it be.

"You can let me borrow that book, if you wish." She said instead, holding out the book she'd finished to Geni. Geni took it and bounded away. Jeanne waited and after a moment she heard Geni coming back, sounding like a herd of elephants. "You walk loudly." She commented, taking the book, which was entitled Origins, from Geni.

"I can be quiet when I need to be, but when I'm in a hurry I tend to stomp." Geni explained, nonplussed.

"Perhaps you should take etiquette lessons." Jeanne suggested. Geni stuck her tongue out at the suggestion.

"No thanks, I know how to say please and thank you and play nice for employers and that's all I really need. When the hell am I going to need to know which spoon to use anyways?" Geni muttered.

"You could learn to be a lady."

"I don't need to be a lady." Geni retorted. "Don't get me wrong there's nothing wrong with being feminine and lady-like, but it ain't for me. I tend to be a little rough-and-tumble, and besides, I'm going to be a techie, no need for manners there."

"A techie?" Jeanne asked.

"I like working with technology, electronics, especially. I got a bit of a touch for fixing things like computers and radios and stuff." Geni said proudly.

"I guess that's useful." Jeanne said, not quite knowing what to say. She didn't have any sort of experience with computers or a lot of the technology.

"Useful nothing." Geni retorted. "You know how many people depend on their tech these days? Lots of them can't function without their phones superglued to their heads and if something goes wrong, people like me are superheroes to them. I wanna work somewhere like a theatre though, get to mess with all the lights and stuff, walk above the stage."

"Not a very big dream." Jeanne commented.

"It makes me happy." Geni shrugged. "What do you wanna be, or haven't you figured that out yet?"

Jeanne considered the question for a moment. She knew what she was meant to be, the savior of the human race, but she couldn't tell Geni that. But, what she was meant to be wasn't the question, it was what she wanted to be, so she chose to answer truthfully.

"I do not know yet."

"Eh well, you got plenty of time yet." Geni said, patting her on the shoulder. "I mean you're still a kid."

"So are you." Jeanne pointed out.

"Yeah, but I'm older than you, which means you're more of a kid than I am." Geni replied.

"You're strange." Jeanne said, fighting the urge to laugh.

"You know, that's actually what my name means." Geni commented. "It's Swahili."

"Why did…"

"I think they liked the sound of it, and probably the eyes." Geni answered, indicating the mismatched orbs. "Bit prophetic though, isn't it?"

Jeanne did laugh a little this time, earning a wide, slightly crazy grin. "It is quite prophetic. I believe I was named after Jeanne d'Arc."

"Ahh, the famous Jeanne d'Arc, prophetess and knight." Geni said. "I like a girl with some spunk to her, so I used to pretend to be her and defend France from the English. Decided it was rubbish she'd died and pretended that she'd escaped instead."

"Funny, I used to pretend the same thing." Jeanne said. Geni cackled and patted her on the back in a friendly manner. Jeanne heard Marco honk.

"I have to go." She said, feeling reluctant to leave all the sudden.

"Same time, next time, right?" Geni said with a wink. Jeanne nodded her head, making sure her new book was securely hidden and then marched out to meet Marco, greatly anticipating her next dance lesson.

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Star: Review plz!


	5. Chapter 5

Star: I own nothing!

As the weeks went by Jeanne found a thirst ignited in her for more knowledge. Geni gave her books on just about everything, fiction and non-fiction. Some things she enjoyed greatly and others she did not. She found, to her dismay, that the theory of evolution, when she came to truly understand it, made a lot of sense. She did conclude that she could believe in the theory, but not the idea that man had come from primates, as the scientists said.

She wasn't feeling all that well today during dance class. Her lower back and lower abdomen were subjected to a strange aching pain that was unlike anything she'd experienced and though she was conditioned to a high pain tolerance, this pain was somehow testing that. She felt like curling up into a ball, like something was standing on her back and that the best course of action would be to bend her back, in order to get some form of release.

The ache in her abdomen started to feel like she needed to pass something, she excused herself to go to the bathroom, wondering if she had eaten something that was disagreeing with her. She felt fatigued and collapsed on the toilet with a weary sigh. She looked down and screamed.

There was blood in her underwear and now that she was sitting she could feel something dripping from her nether regions, and immediately she knew it must be more blood. Was she ill, was she dying? She shouldn't bleed from there! She knew she should have been calling for help, but she felt too hysterical to do anything but wail in fear.

Someone was banging on the bathroom door. "Hello? Hello, are you hurt!" Jeanne recognised the voice.

"Geni?" She asked.

"Princess? Can you open the door?" Geni asked.

"I-I don't think I should move." Jeanne replied tearfully.

"Alright, just sit tight for a second." Jeanne heard Geni fiddling with the lock and after a minute or two the older girl was able to barge in. Geni looked at her, looked down at the blood staining Jeanne's undergarments and the look of alarm slid off her face, morphing into understanding and sympathy.

"Oh, honey." Geni sighed.

"What's wrong with me?" Jeanne demanded.

"Nothing's wrong with you, it's just… oh god I am going to castrate that guardian of yours." Geni growled. "You don't know anything about puberty, about what a woman's body goes through when she gets to a certain age?"

"N-No." Jeanne replied.

"Okay, you're not dying, you're not sick, you've just graduated into womanhood." Geni said gently. "Let me go get some clean panties and some other things for you and I will explain. Do you hurt anywhere?"

"My back and lower abdomen aches." Jeanne sniffed.

"Alright, I'll get you something for that too." Geni soothed. She got up. "I'll be back in a moment, just sit tight." Geni closed the bathroom door behind her and Jeanne was left alone again. She didn't understand what was going on and all the sudden she just felt mad at the entire world for no reason.

"What took you so long?" She snapped when Geni got back. Geni tilted her head at her. "I'm sorry." Jeanne said, horrified by her outburst. "I don't know why I did that."

"Mood swings, all part of the package." Geni replied. "Okay princess, got a new pair of undies for you, just slip them on." Jeanne took the panties, which were made with less material than she wore, and had penguins and a little bow. "Okay, now what's happening to you right now is what we can menstruation, or a period. Now basically what your body does when you get to a certain age is it starts preparing you for having a baby. Now a fetus needs a place to grow, which is your uterus, and your uterus makes a nice cozy little environment with a lining around the uterus made of blood and tissue and nutrients, which is good for a little fetus. But, if no baby gets made, at the end of about twenty eight days the body needs to get rid of this layer because otherwise it starts to get toxic, and the only way out of your uterus is through the vagina, so you get to bleed for about a week every month until you're about fifty and yes it's as unhappy a time as it sounds."

"It sounds awful." Jeanne said. "Isn't there any way not to have it happen?"

"Get pregnant." Geni replied bluntly. "Don't think you want that right now. Anyways, it's not too bad once you get used to it, but the side effects suck."

"You mean the pains?" Jeanne asked.

"Yup, you can also feel tired, your mood goes from one extreme to another with no reason why, you want to eat everything in sight or not eat at all." Geni listed off.

"How do I go around if I am bleeding though?" Jeanne asked. "I cannot just sit on a toilet for a week."

"No, of course not." Geni replied. She brought out one of the other items she had with her. "This is a pad." She opened the package to show Jeanne what was inside. "Now you take this, and you stick it in your underwear, like this." She demonstrated, smoothing it out. "It catches the blood and soaks it up, but you can only wear it for a little while and then you got to change it again, otherwise you'll start leaking all over." She held something else up, which looked like a tube with a string. "This is a tampon, same sort of idea, it soaks up the blood, but it goes up inside you."

"That sounds awful, why?" Jeanne yelped.

"It's less conspicuous, doesn't make you feel like you're wearing a diaper and it's easier for doing physical activities, but I didn't start using them for a couple years and you should be fine with just the pads for now." Geni explained.

"I'll have to get Marco to buy some for me." Jeanne sniffed.

"I could kill that man for not explaining any of this to you." Geni grumbled. "You've obviously been hitting puberty for some time."

"What do you mean?" Jeanne asked. Geni cupped her own breasts, lifting them slightly. Jeanne looked at her own protruding bosom. They weren't large, but they were there enough that she needed to wear bras. "I think Marco meant for Minne, one of my other guardians, to tell of all this, but she… passed away not long ago."

"I'm sorry, kiddo." Geni said sympathetically. Jeanne felt her eyes well up with tears again and she impatiently wiped them away. Of all the times to become overly emotional, why did it have to be in public? "I also got this for you, don't really know why I kept it, but now I'm glad I did." Geni pushed a book into Jeanne's hands. It looked like it was all about puberty and sex. "It'll explain things a little better than I can. You can skip the chapters about sex and making babies, but you're going to have to know someday, aren't you?"

"I suppose I must." Jeanne said, resisting the urge to rub at her sore abdomen. Something must have shown on Geni's face because her face softened further.

"Cramps. Seems you've got off pretty good with them though, some people can't even move they're in so much pain from their cramps. Tell you what, why don't you come upstairs, I got a heating pad I use, you can curl up on my couch and we can watch a movie or something until your guardian comes for you, unless you have his cell number or something." Geni said.

"It's only for emergencies, and this really isn't an emergency anymore and I don't know if I want to deal with him yet." Jeanne muttered, standing up and pulling her clothes into place. The pad really did feel like she was wearing some kind of diaper and it chafed a bit. She considered Geni's proposition. She knew that she could defend herself if she must, and besides, after so many weeks she had come to trust the older girl. "Okay."

"I'll tell your instructor you're with me so she doesn't worry." Geni said, holding out her hand. Jeanne took it without hesitation and noted how calloused and dry her hand actually was. Her grip was firm and reassuring though, so Jeanne decided she liked Geni's hands.

Geni took her up a set of stairs that were in the very back of the studio and opened the door at the top of them, revealing a very cluttered living space. "Sorry about the mess." Geni said, sounding not very sorry at all. Most of the walls had bookshelves crammed full of books and the floor was littered with clothes, empty cans, take-out containers and other items. There were disassembled electronics on a couple surfaces, looking a little like some strange dissected corpse of an alien being. Geni shoved a pile of clothes off the couch and patted the surface, indicating that Jeanne should sit.

"I try to keep at least the couch clean, since I'm sitting on it all the time." She said at Jeanne's look. Jeanne sat down then with a sigh. Geni wandered off to what she assumed was the bedroom and came back with the heating pad she mentioned. Jeanne took it with a grateful murmur and put it on her stomach and turned it on. "Hot bath is good, for when you get home, I mean, or a shower works too."

Geni was going through the movies that were stacked around the television, picking one up and then putting it back, muttering to herself. "What are you looking for?" Jeanne asked.

"Some place good to start, probably Disney… you know what, let's start at the very beginning, first ever full-length animated feature." She stuck a movie into the DVD player and flopped down on the couch. "It's better if you lie down and kinda curl up too." She suggested as the movie began. Jeanne took the suggestion, and curling up did seem to reduce some of the pain.

She focused on the movie, the first she'd ever seen before. It was a cartoon, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. She initially thought all the singing was a bit silly, but it kind of grew on her, especially the Hi Ho song that the dwarves sang. They were getting close to the end when she heard a honk from outside. Geni stopped the movie.

"You'd best get going princess." She said, sounding reluctant. "We can finish next time instead of you watching me dance." She suggested.

"I'd like that." Jeanne replied, standing up gingerly. "Thank you for your help today."

"Ah, I only did what any other self-respecting girl would do." Geni said, grinning widely. Jeanne smiled back and headed back down the stairs and out to Marco's car.

"Marco, we need to go to the drug store." She said calmly as she could.

"Why is that, my lady?" He asked.

"I need pads." Jeanne replied. She was hard-pressed not to laugh when Marco nearly rammed into a streetlight.

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Star: Review plz!


	6. Chapter 6

Star: I own nothing

Whatever Geni was dancing to today had a melancholy feel to it and her movements were more flowing. It was the dance style Geni had told her was 'contemporary' and seemed to be a mix of several different styles, more of a story-telling dance style than anything else. It was pretty and Jeanne found herself being drawn into the rhythm of the music.

Feeling impulsive she walked over to where Geni was dancing and began to mimic her movements, dancing along with her. "Feel the music." Geni said after a moment. "You don't have to exactly follow what I do, princess."

"I hate it when you call me that." Jeanne commented. Geni chuckled and gripped her hand, twirling her around the room to the beat of the music. The dance turned into a waltz of sorts, with Geni as the lead. "You know a lot of dance styles."

"I pick things up here and there, but my true love is hip hop, as you've seen." Geni replied.

"I have seen." Jeanne agreed. "We haven't finished the Fox and the Hound." She reminded Geni. Some days they would dance and talk and others they would watch movies. It had become a new ritual. Jeanne felt a little guilty for hiding everything that Geni was showing her from Marco, but she wanted so much of it now that she knew what it was and none of it seemed bad. She still believed, although, she was having some issues with that. "Geni, do you think everyone who kills is a bad person?"

"Odd question to bring up." Geni commented, not stopping their dance. "But no, I don't think everyone who kills is bad. What about the people who kill other people to protect themselves, or other people?"

"True, so if someone has a good reason to kill then it's okay?" Jeanne asked.

"I don't know about okay, but it is forgivable, in an ideal world we wouldn't have killing, but it's not an ideal world." Geni replied.

"What about people who kill people because they believe different things?" Jeanne asked.

"I don't think they're necessarily bad, because they believe what they're doing is right, but it's certainly not a good thing to do, I mean, if someone's beliefs aren't hurting you then why not just leave them alone, right?" Geni asked.

"Right." Jeanne said. She settled into silence again. That had been on her mind for weeks, the concept of killing all those who refused to believe as she, or the X-Laws did. It was Geni's fault, as were all of her doubts these days, though she did not fault Geni for it, the girl had no idea what she was actually doing.

"Now, if we're done with the existential questions, you wanna finish Fox and the Hound?" Geni asked, grinning.

"Of course." Jeanne said. She followed Geni upstairs. She wondered what Marco would think of this new friend of hers, that challenged her beliefs and made her think about the things they did and whether or not justice was really just. More and more, living amongst people and having one person in particular in her life who would never bend to the X-Laws' will, she had to admit that the X-Laws were not justice.

She could just see Geni, staring them all down with their angels and Shamash, hands on her hips, refusing to back down. She was stubborn enough to, and one of them would wind up hurt in the clash and the odds were that it would be Geni. Jeanne didn't want that, actually recoiled at the thought of hurting her friend.

She pushed the thoughts out of her head, settling down on Geni's couch to watch their movie. It wasn't too long before she discovered that a cartoon, fictional character could actually make her cry. She was gratified to hear Geni sniffling along with her, but it was still a reaction she had never expected to have, particularly from a children's movie.

"I am shocked that I cried." She admitted when the movie was done.

"See, that's how you know a movie's good, because you feel for the characters, because it becomes more than just a story to you, it becomes, in some way, real." Geni said excitedly. "Making movies is an art, you gotta be able to put everything together in such a way that the audience lives the story. Books are the same way, you get some where you just feel the story and the characters. I've sworn at books, cried at them, laughed and all that, just because they were so well-written."

"It seems to me that creating characters that feel real would be a difficult task." Jeanne mused.

"That's exactly why I find movies so amazing. You got an hour, maybe two or three with these characters and yet somehow they turn into real people who you feel for and you want to either succeed or fail." Geni said. "The really amazing thing is you don't see the actor anymore, you just see the character, at least for some of them anyways. That's hard to do, to become that character enough that the audience sees them and only them. I should get you to watch the Green Mile when I think you're ready for it, it's got one of my favourite examples of a character that in no way you see the actor in them."

"Why am I not ready for it?" Jeanne asked, feeling miffed.

"Some inappropriate things, some themes I don't think you'll get. It's set on death row, you see, so some of the characters are pretty nasty." Geni explained. "Besides, we still need to get through the Disney movies. Think next we should watch Beauty and the Beast, it's one of my favourites."

"That sounds pleasant." Jeanne agreed as she heard Marco honk outside. This time, as she left, Geni caught her in a brief one-armed side-hug. It surprised her enough that she didn't return it, but as she walked down the stairs she resolved that next time she would.

%&%&%&%

The music was loud, and angry. Jeanne stopped in the doorway, seeing an expression on Geni's face she'd never seen before. It was a scowl, deep and filled with rage. She'd never seen Geni angry before, she'd always considered her very even-tempered, considering how much Jeanne had pestered her in the early days.

The music ended and Geni stopped, chest heaving, hair sticking to her face, eyes wild. She turned and smashed her fist into a wall, letting out a stream of what Jeanne assumed were curses in various tongues. She heard some French in there, along with English, but mostly she couldn't understand what Geni was saying or why she was saying it.

"Geni?" She asked, moving forward. Geni's head snapped up and Jeanne nearly took a step back but then Geni's face cleared a little bit. "What's wrong?"

"I guess you don't watch the news, huh?" Geni asked, her voice trembling with emotion. Jeanne shook her head. Geni grabbed at her hair with both hands and began to pace. "There was a shooting in Connecticut, in an elementary school." Jeanne sucked in a shocked breath. "Twenty-six people are dead, twenty of them children."

"Oh my god." The words slipped out before Jeanne could register the blasphemous nature of them. They seemed to fit though, and she did not take them back.

"Exactly, that's not even the worst bit though." Geni said, still pacing restlessly. "The worst bit is those shitheads, the Westboro Baptist Church, are planning to picket the funerals, saying that it's god's revenge for letting the gays marry or some bullshit like that." Her teeth were bared, like she wanted to bite someone.

"Westboro Baptist Church?" Jeanne asked.

"Religious nuts, picket soldiers' funerals too, saying thank god for dead soldiers, they're the scum of the earth." Geni bit out.

"They sound terrible." Jeanne said. Geni laughed jaggedly and sat down, running her fingers through her hair.

"Dead kids are god's divine judgement, what kind of bullshit is that? What kind of person do you have to be to spin a story like that in that way?" Geni asked. "Why are people so awful? And don't you dare say anything about god right now to me, I swear I'll wind up punching you and I don't wanna do that."

"I don't know, Geni." Jeanne replied honestly. "I don't know." Geni sniffed and wiped at her nose.

"Fuck me, I think I'm going to cry now." She said, voice quavering. "I hate crying, it's so undignified."

"I didn't know you could be dignified." Jeanne said, attempting to lighten the mood. It was something she'd heard one of Yoh Asakura's friends say to him in a teasing way. Geni let out a watery chuckle, but her face fell again.

"They were kindergarteners, they were just babies." She whispered. "Why…?" She put her face in her hands and burst into tears. Jeanne was startled for a moment and then recovered. She moved forward and put her arms around Geni's body awkwardly; she was not used to giving physical comfort. Geni leaned into her touch and latched onto her with her fingers digging into the material of Jeanne's dress. The two of them just sat there, sharing in the grief for the little souls that would never grow up.

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Star: Review plz


	7. Chapter 7

Star: I own nothing!

One year passed since Geni had first met the odd little duckling she referred to as 'princess', sometimes to her annoyance. It was fun to tease her, because she got so puffed up with indignation sometimes, which probably wasn't nice of Geni, but she'd never known when to back off anyways. The princess had stayed, even with her swearing and questioning of Jeanne's beliefs, so she must have done something right.

They continued watching movies, graduating from kid's stuff to more adult movies like Men in Black, the Lord of the Rings and stuff like that. She waited awhile before letting Jeanne watch any of the real deep thinking movies, like V For Vendetta, not sure how she would react to the ideas and concepts in them. Those were the most interesting days, because they were followed by lively questions, debates and sometimes arguments.

What was more interesting was the fact that Jeanne had never tasted anything like sweets before. So, like with everything else, Geni decided to corrupt her on that too. It didn't take much anymore, Jeanne was eager to try things, which made Geni happy, because she loved the way the younger girl's eyes light up in pleasure at something.

Maybe it wasn't fair of her, to take advantage of an innocent the way she was, but she couldn't help herself. She liked Jeanne too much, and she'd hated the way the girl had looked at her those first few weeks, like she was dirty, like she was beneath 'Her Royal Highness'. The attitude towards anything different and the ignorance she couldn't ignore.

Under her prodding, Jeanne had evolved into a very intelligent young woman, with a love for science, but still keeping with her beliefs in God. Ah well, Geni couldn't win them all, she supposed, and Jeanne wasn't a crazy Bible thumper. Live and let live, so long as the beliefs weren't hurting anyone, why shame someone for them, right?

They were just finishing the movie Crazy, Stupid, Love, one of the very few 'chick flicks' that Geni actually liked, when Jeanne asked a very odd question. "When does attraction start?" Geni looked at her, swallowed her popcorn and asked

"What do you mean?"

"When does one become attracted to boys?" Jeanne asked. "I have watched many movies where the males could be considered 'hot' but I have felt nothing of any attraction to any of them. Is this something that develops later on?"

Geni was quiet for a moment, trying to avoid blurting out the first thing that came to mind, which was her usual way of doing things. She wanted to be delicate about this, because of her own preferences and not wanting to lose her friend over it.

"Have you ever considered that you might not be attracted to men?" She asked slowly. Jeanne's eyes widened.

"But that's-" She stopped herself, biting her lip. Geni remained silent, tapping her knee with one finger. "I was taught that homosexuality is an aberration." Geni stayed quiet, not trusting her words at the moment. "But… there are many things wrong with the things that I have been taught. I was told it was a choice to be gay, that it was like choosing to steal or lie or kill."

"Not in the slightest." Geni tried to keep her voice steady. "Why would someone choose it, anyways? You know how many gay kids are bullied? You know how many non-straight people are killed a year, simply because they happen to be attracted to someone other than what they are 'supposed' to? Do you know how many commit suicide a year? It is so stupid that people think that gay, bisexual or any other non-straight person just woke up and said, hey, being gay looks like fun, I'm going to be gay!"

"This is something you feel strongly about." Jeanne said.

"Yes." Geni said simply.

"Why have you never brought it up before then?" Jeanne asked.

"I was worried." Geni admitted. "This is something I really feel strongly about and you know I don't think about things before I say them, so I'd likely say something rude or mean if you were all high and mighty about this and that would be the end of all this, and I happen to like hanging around with you, so I kept my mouth shut."

"You said it's not a choice?" Jeanne asked.

"Yeah, it's like… oh fuck, I need a good comparison." Geni grabbed at her hair with both hands and thought desperately for a moment. "Oh! It's like hair colour. People have different hair colours, right? There's different sexualities too and there might be varying degrees of those sexualities within the sexualities themselves. And you can't force your hair colour to change naturally, so that's like trying not to be gay or something. You can colour your hair, but it's still the same colour underneath and people try to hide their sexuality too. Also, sometimes hair colour can change over the course of your life, and so can sexuality for some people. Some people it's set in stone, but for some it's fluid, changeable, but it's not something they have control over." Jeanne blinked rapidly at her a couple times. "I talk too fast, don't I?"

"Yes." Jeanne said, sounding amused and resigned. "What sexuality are you then?"

"Lesbian, out and proud." Geni said immediately. No point in hiding now, she hated hiding, wouldn't do it, not for anyone.

"When did you know?"

"I think I always knew, in some corner of my mind. Didn't figure it out until high school though, ninth grade and short skirts, ooh boy." Geni grinned. "I'm a bit of a horn-dog, sorry."

"No you're not." Jeanne admonished slightly. "You never are." Geni stuck her tongue out at her. "You said you kind of always knew, right?"

"Well, when you're five years old, playing at being Peter Pan and demanding kisses from the girls you save from Captain Hook, in that way it was kind of obvious." Geni said with a laugh. "Oh, I was never subtle, even as a kid, kinda hilarious really."

"I don't think I know, though." Jeanne said, brow furrowed in confusion.

"Not everyone does." Geni shrugged. "For some people they always have known, for some it takes longer to figure out. I know people who didn't figure it out until they were like thirty years old."

"So do you think I'm not straight?" Jeanne asked.

"Princess, the only one who's going to know for sure is you." Geni sighed. "You don't have to make a decision right now, it's not a test."

"But how do I know?" Jeanne asked.

"I don't know, it's different for everyone." Geni said, spreading her arms wide in a helpless gesture. "Maybe pay more attention to how you react to people? Read up on sexuality, maybe?"

"Do you have any books for me about that?" Jeanne asked.

"Does a bear shit in the woods?" Geni asked, lurching to her feet and bouncing over to her bookshelves. "This would be so much easier if I organized them." She mumbled, searching through her bookcases, looking for one book in particular. "Ah ha!" She crowed, brandishing her prize in the air.

"The Sexual Spectrum?" Jeanne read, looking up at her.

"It's good, it's got the science without being overly science-y wordy." Geni said. "It's good, it's really good."

"I shall take your word for it." Jeanne said, stuffing it under her oversized dress as her guardian honked for her to go. "I shall see you next time."

"Yup." Geni said, waving goodbye. As soon as the door closed she collapsed on the couch, letting out her breath in a whoosh as she went completely limp. She couldn't believe how well that had gone. Of course Jeanne had already had a year to learn not to immediately think what she had been taught was right, but still, sexuality was a touchy topic and she hadn't even gone into things like gender identity.

And, she hadn't asked the question Geni had been fearing when she had told Jeanne she was a lesbian. Because, let's be honest, Jeanne was a good looking girl. She'd, well, Geni hated to put it in this way, but she had _blossomed, _which was a horrible allegory and one that she hoped she'd never use again.

It was, unfortunately, very true though. Since meeting her, Jeanne had been transformed from the, quite frankly, waif-like stick-bug of a girl, to an actual young woman, with actual curves. She was still rather thin, but she had some actual meat on her bones, hips flaring out softly, breasts small but perky, and it was easy to see she'd have a lot of boys panting after her, if she ever got out in public and out of dresses that hid her body away from sight.

Yes, Jeanne was pretty, but she wasn't going to go beyond that, not now, not while Jeanne was confused and vulnerable. No, Jeanne needed a friend, and Geni would be her friend. If someday there was something more she could be, so be it, but for now, she was Jeanne's friend and that was that.


	8. Chapter 8

Star: I own nothing!

"I want to learn to dance like you do." Jeanne declared, making Geni miss her step and trip over her own feet. The older girl went crashing to the floor with a yip not unlike a fox.

"What?" Geni asked, looking a little cross-eyed. "Not sure I heard you right."

"You did. I want to learn to dance the way you do." Jeanne repeated.

"Okay, okay, why?" Geni asked bluntly.

"You dance with passion, with obvious enjoyment, and I want that." Jeanne said.

"You know you can dance with passion in ballet."

"I know, but for me ballet is routine, something I do because it's the only thing available to me." Jeanne explained. "I didn't choose ballet, Marco did, because it was lady-like, but I want something that I have chosen, and your style of dancing intrigues me, it's like a release of pent up emotion, even when you're just practicing."

"Fair enough. Not going to learn very quickly with only a half an hour to an hour though a couple times a week." Geni said thoughtfully, tapping her chin. "Unless I can steal you away from your teacher."

"For some reason the image of you in pirate garb comes to mind." Jeanne said. Geni grinned at her.

"Don't tempt me. Who's your teacher? Is it Contessa?"

"Yes." Jeanne answered.

"I might be able to sweet talk her into allowing me to take you out of class sometimes, provided she still gets paid the same." Geni mused.

"How would you convince her?" Jeanne asked.

"I'd tell her your guardian is a complete control freak and would never go for you learning hip-hop but that you really want to learn." Geni said. "Always best to stick as close to the truth as you can, even when lying. Well, we're not really lying this time and we've actually done something like this before, for a boy whose parents thought that learning ballet would make him gay."

"What happened with that?"

"He showed them what he learned at the Christmas performance a couple years back and introduced his girlfriend to them afterwards." Geni said. "Straight as an arrow that one was."

"You really think she'll do it?" Jeanne asked eagerly.

"Princess, you are looking at a master sweet talker." Geni said smugly. "If I can talk you into questioning your beliefs, I can certainly talk someone who actually likes me into helping me."

"I like you." Jeanne protested.

"You didn't back then." Geni reminded her.

"True." Jeanne admitted. "I know better now."

"Damn right you do." Geni cackled. "Come on, we're getting up to my favourite part in the Return of the King." Jeanne followed Geni upstairs, noticing that she had nice toned calves. The thought was fleeting, almost too quick for Jeanne to register it, but she did pause on the stairway for a moment before shaking her head and following Geni up the stairs.

%&%&%&%

Jeanne was heading into her dance studio to get started when she was yanked away. "Not that way princess." Geni told her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

"You got it sorted?" Jeanne asked eagerly.

"You bet I did." Geni replied cheerily. "Contessa will warn us if your guardian makes a surprise visit, but I don't think I've ever seen him in here."

"No, he's not interested." Jeanne said. "It disappointed me at first, but now it means I can sneak around behind his back. Oh dear, that sounds just awful of me, doesn't it?"

"Nope, sounds like a typical teenager to me, and I'm glad to see it because sometimes I'm not sure you're not an alien or something." Geni said. "Which would be pretty cool, aliens are awesome, especially if they got a TARDIS."

Jeanne giggled and twirled a little when they stepped into the dance studio. "One day you're just going to be gone and I'm going to find a note saying that you left with the Doctor, aren't I?"

"No, you'd be coming with me." Geni said with a wink. She put on the music, which had a heavy bass beat that seemed to resonate through Jeanne's body. "Now I just want you to feel the beat right, take note of the way it makes you feel, the way it makes you want to move. Once you've got that, just start moving for now, I want to see how you react to the beat, then we can get into the more technical side of things."

Jeanne nodded, focusing on the music. It had a strong beat, but an upbeat rhythm and she could feel the chords in her head, showing her the way she should move. After a moment's thought that's what she did, finding the movements more grounded in the earth than ballet, which always put her in mind of flying. The way she was moving now put her in mind of almost a fight, which if she thought about it, many of the martial arts could be likened to dancing.

"Whoo, princess, you got some moves there sweetheart." Geni said, interrupting her dancing. "You got yourself a dancing soul."

"Really?" Jeanne asked, feeling oddly pleased.

"Oh yeah." Geni bobbed her head. "Tell me, how did you feel while you were dancing?"

"I could feel the music inside me, moving through me, making me move." Jeanne said.

"Yup, you got the fire inside your soul. We just gotta let it out." Geni said. "Now, I'm no professional, so my teaching is going to be all over the place. Best way to learn is probably to watch what I do and mirror me for now."

"That I can do." Jeanne agreed. The two of them danced together for some time, Geni every so often taking time out to seize Jeanne and dance her around the studio in a style that was decidedly not hip hop. She was laughing by the time they stopped to take a breath.

"This is way more fun than my dance class." Jeanne said.

"Which is why they don't allow me to teach." Geni joked. "That and I'd probably wind up teaching the kids something inappropriate accidently."

"Somehow I don't think it would be an accident." Jeanne replied. Geni made a face at her and she made one back, making Geni laugh again. She had a nice laugh, full-throated and slightly husky. She'd braided a fake doubloon and some beads into her hair, trying to look like Captain Jack Sparrow and they clinked as she shook her head.

"Alright, I think we've had enough dancing for today, how about a movie?" Geni asked. "I was thinking V for Vendetta. It's really good."

"You always say that." Jeanne pointed out.

"It's always true."

"Ha, what about Scary Movie?" Jeanne demanded.

"Feh, difference in opinions, that movie's still great." Geni said, heading towards the stairs.

"To you maybe." Jeanne countered.

"And that's all that matters." Geni replied glibly.

"You are a pain."

"Aww, I was hoping you'd say smartass, but I guess I haven't corrupted you that far yet." Geni giggled, showing Jeanne inside her apartment. Jeanne couldn't help but feel like she was coming home. It had started some time ago, and she realized it was because she was far more comfortable here than she was in the house she shared with Marco.

Here she could be whatever she wanted to be, and she was treated like any other person in the world. With Marco she was treated like she was delicate, and sacred, which was nice sometimes, but it did tend to wear one down. She couldn't be who she wanted to be anymore around Marco, for fear she would be banned from this place. Someday, she thought, she would be grown-up and able to choose exactly where she wanted to be and who she wanted to be, but for now she was forced to hide, and she was slowly learning to hate that.


	9. Chapter 9

Star: I own nothing!

Somewhere in between the dance lessons, the movies, the books and the moments of just talking curled up against each other on the couch Jeanne figured a few things out. First that she was, in Marco's eyes, completely corrupted from the 'pure' goddess that she was supposed to be. The second was that she completely did not care anymore. The third thing was that she was pretty sure she liked girls.

The thought had come after watching the Dark Knight Rises with Geni and being completely transfixed by Selina Kyle. She paid more attention to the way she reacted to characters in movies after that, and found that she was always drawn to the female characters. Specifics included Natalie Portman and Anne Hathaway.

"I think I've been getting aroused." She said, deciding to try to throw Geni for a loop instead of the other way around for once. Geni, who was spinning around like a whirling dervish, halted and crashed into the wall.

"Wait, what?" She asked, shaking her head.

"I think I've been getting aroused." Jeanne repeated.

"What makes you think that?" Geni replied.

"Well, sometimes I get this feeling, in my private parts-"

"Come on, just say vagina, it's not a bad word." Geni groaned.

"Fine, vagina." Jeanne said. "It's like an ache, but it feels good, especially when I…" She trailed off, embarrassed.

"Touch?" Geni guessed, grinning wildly. Jeanne nodded, feeling her face heat up. "Yup, that's definitely arousal. Thinking of anyone specific when it happens?"

"Well there was one time, I was thinking of… Catwoman." Jeanne mumbled, feeling her face heat up even more.

"I knew it." Geni said triumphantly. "My gay-dar's been going off like crazy with you lately."

"Gay-dar?"

"It's like a spidey-sense for gay people." Geni said. "Not everyone has it, some people learn it, but it comes in handy."

"I'd imagine so." Jeanne commented.

"Soo, Anne Hathaway, huh?" Geni grinned at her.

"Well, Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle, anyways." Jeanne replied.

"Can't argue with you there. Saw it in theatres and boy am I glad I'm not a guy, because I would have had a boner for half the movie if I was."

"Geni!" Jeanne squeaked, hiding her face in her hands as Geni laughed raucously.

"Aww princess, you're so cute when you blush." Geni cooed, mismatched eyes dancing merrily. Jeanne loved Geni's eyes, not only for their colours, but for the life in them. She blushed again, making Geni cackle happily. "Come on princess, let's go watch something."

Jeanne eagerly followed Geni upstairs, wondering what they would start on this time. Geni put in Princess Mononoke, which was a Studio Ghibli film. Jeanne had liked the ones she'd seen before and was looking forward to this one. She snuggled against Geni's side, feeling her stomach give a little flop when Geni wrapped her arm around her shoulders. Puppy love, she thought distantly, Geni was the only girl she really knew, so it was logical she would develop a crush on her. She would keep it to herself, likely Geni didn't want someone so much younger than her anyways.

%&%&%&%

Jeanne sat in her room, contemplating Princess Mononoke. The movie hadn't had a real villain in it, to her surprise. She found herself liking most of the characters for various reasons and disliking them for various reasons as well, but there was never one that stood out as a real villain. They all believed in what they were doing, had their reasons, and had reasons to feel empathy for them.

She thought about how that must be what it was like in real life, because hadn't she believed that what she was doing was right? That death was the only option those that did not repent had, or that torturing them would bring about a true confession? She shuddered to think of the things she had done, under her own power and because of Marco's tutelage.

She was a good person overall though, or so she believed in any case. Geni seemed to like her anyways. Her thoughts turned to Hao. Hao believed in his cause, as much if not more than she had hers. Did that make him evil? The X-Laws would have cleansed the world, as much as Hao would have, didn't that make them similar? The questions haunted her.

Was it possible that Hao wasn't actually as evil as she had believed? It was true he wanted to destroy all of humanity, but did he have reasons beyond that he was evil? She clicked her tongue in disgust, not at herself, but at her sheltered, closed off life. She was annoyed that she had never questioned anything until now, never had the chance to question anything.

"My lady?" Jeanne shoved her book under her pillow and grabbed one of the holy books off the shelf.

"Come in, Marco." She called. Her guardian stepped inside and she experienced the same sinking feeling in her stomach that had become familiar when she saw him these days. It wasn't really fair, he did his best really, but she couldn't help but feel… resentful of his sheltering of her.

"How are you today, my lady?" Marco asked.

"I am fine, Marco." Jeanne replied, smiling slightly.

"Are you certain?" Marco asked. "You have been quiet of late."

"I have a lot on my mind, Marco." Jeanne said primly. "And I am growing up."

"Yes, of course, my lady." Marco said. "What do you have on your mind?"

Jeanne considered the question, and decided to gauge Marco, and how he might react if she were to tell him at least some of her new convictions. "I have been considering Hao." She said slowly. "I have been considering his evil deeds and I have been wondering."

"Wondering what, my lady?" Marco asked.

"I have wondered if he is pure evil, or if there is still some good left in him to be saved." Jeanne said. "For is it not godly to save first and then damn?"

"That is true." Marco said. "But my lady, you know Hao is the evil one. He is not redeemable, he is pure evil."

"So you have taught me." Jeanne murmured.

"The devil comes in many guises, and Hao is one of them." Marco said. "You must not allow the devil to twist your thoughts."

"I am not, Marco." Jeanne assured him. Geni had already done that, a year and a half ago.

"Of course not, you are perfection, after all." Marco said, smiling at her. Looking into his eyes she could see no real warmth in them for her, no acknowledgement of their supposed roles as guardian and child. Instead she saw the fervent light of worship in his eyes, for an idol that he didn't know had already fallen. She wasn't really a person to him, but a saint, a deity, something to be worshiped.

Once it had sustained her, to know that she was the only hope of the world, that she was to be a goddess. Now, it only grated on her, because there was so much more out there that she might never see because of this. She would find those things, she decided, she needed Marco right now because she was still a child, but someday she would free herself.

She would go to Geni if need be; Geni, the first person who looked at her and saw a real person when she looked at her. Not some idol, or some amusing caricature as Hao probably saw her, but a real person with hopes, dreams and feelings of her own. She thought about Yoh then, who had always been unfailingly kind to all of them, even when they tried to hurt him and wondered if he saw her as a real person and that she had been too busy dismissing him as Hao's other half.

She wanted to apologise to a lot of people now, especially Yoh and his friends, since they were one of the only ones left alive that she wanted to apologise to. She dipped her head as Marco kissed her forehead, feeling nothing in the gesture but worshipful adoration, lost in her thoughts. Things would be different when the tournament got going again. Marco just didn't know it yet.

~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~&~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~&~~~~~~~~~~~~

Review plz!


	10. Chapter 10

Star: I own nothing!

Jeanne was sixteen now. Nearly three years had passed since she'd met her best friend in the entire world, the one who watched movies with her, fed her sugar addiction, her book addiction, and taught her how to dance, the best friend who she had slowly but surely fallen in love with. Now that best friend was leaving her.

"But why?" She demanded, unable to keep the whine from her voice.

"I know princess, I don't like it either, but they're family." Geni said, scratching her head. "They said it'll only be a couple months, so I'll be back before you know it."

"I can't even keep in contact with you." Jeanne said. "I don't have a computer, I can't write and I can't phone."

"You can give Contessa letters for me and she'll send them to me." Geni suggested, trying to smile. Her mismatched eyes were swimming with tears. "It's not forever, you know?" She shook her head, long dreads swinging with the movement. She'd begun experimenting with dreads in the last year and Jeanne had grown to tolerate the look. She preferred Geni's old look, but Geni seemed to like her dreads and Jeanne knew there was no talking her out of something she liked.

"I'm just going to be completely alone now." Jeanne sniffed. She wiped at her eyes, not wanting to cry.

"Oh honey." Geni sighed, moving and wrapping her arms around Jeanne. Jeanne buried her face into Geni's chest, sobbing softly. "I'm coming back, I promise."

"What if I'm not here when you do?" Jeanne asked.

"We'll figure it out." Geni whispered, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. Jeanne decided to take a chance then. There were many times she thought that Geni was flirting with her, but it could have been wishful thinking, and Geni did love to randomly dance with her, occasionally slow-dancing with her; one way to find out.

She swallowed her fear and lifted her head, pressing her lips to Geni's. For a moment Geni went completely still and then her arms tightened and she was kissing Jeanne back eagerly. The two of them parted after a couple moments, breathing heavily.

"Well, that answers that question." Geni said, a little hoarsely.

"Yes, it does." Jeanne agreed, feeling a little light-headed. "I thought, better do it while I have the chance, even though I might not see you for a long time."

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder." Geni said, unconvincingly. "I will come back, I promise, and we will do this, properly."

"Properly." Jeanne repeated softly. "Yes, that would be nice." She heard Marco honk for her and sighed deeply. Geni kissed her again and hugged her tightly.

"I'll see you soon, I swear." Geni said.

"I know." Jeanne replied. Still, she couldn't help but feel like a part of her life was missing when she walked out of that apartment.

%&%&%&%

Jeanne walked alongside Marco through the Patch village. Only days after Geni had left the tournament had been reinstated. Jeanne was less than enthusiastic. She had no idea how she was going to break it to Marco that she wasn't the same as she was and she wasn't going to be doing things the same this time around.

She was too hot in her dress and it was too confining. She wanted to try wearing shorts, or at least a summer dress. Marco chattered on about how they would find Lyserg and convince him to rejoin and build up a new X-Law corps to take on Hao and the rest of the evil-doers, but Jeanne wasn't listening. She was looking for a way out, she just wanted to be alone and that was when she spotted her.

At first she thought she was just seeing things, but she blinked rapidly a couple times and looked again. It was Geni, on top of one of the buildings of the village, upper body dangling over the side, fixing a camera mounted on the side of the building. Jeanne's heart skipped a beat and she considered yelling, but then stopped herself. She needed to get her attention, but she needed to do it discretely.

She pulled out the Oracle pager and began to skim through the usernames imbedded in it. The pager acted like a cell phone and she could text people using it. She just needed to find the right name and she figured she would know it when she saw it. Finally she spotted a name that seemed right: I-am-no-man. She quickly selected that name and typed into the Oracle Pager. Save your princess! She sent it.

She watched Geni look up, looking puzzled and yank her Oracle pager from her back pocket. She couldn't see her expression, but she did notice when Geni started looking around, trying to spot her. She waved discretely and clearly saw Geni grin. Geni gave her a thumbs up and put down her tools, pulled the hood of the sweater she was wearing over her face and clamoured down the side of the building and racing through the crowd. Jeanne braced herself for whatever insane idea Geni had come up with.

She suddenly found herself lifted into the air, slung over a bony shoulder roughly. "Avast ye scurvy dog, I be taking this here wench for meself!" Geni yelled and then took off with Jeanne, running through the buildings quickly. "Can you get us far away quickly?" Geni asked her.

"Uh, yes!" Jeanne replied. She'd learned to teleport and she did so now, transporting them to a lake outside the village. Geni put her down and Jeanne wasted no time in throwing herself at Geni, flinging her arms around her. Geni laughed boisterously and lifted Jeanne off her feet, swinging her around until they both fell over into the grass.

"This is the job you took?" Jeanne asked when she got her breath back. "You're related to the Patch?"

"Silva's my second cousin." Geni replied. "They needed someone who was good with technology, seems their tech got killed in the last round of the tourney."

"So, you know about all this?" Jeanne asked.

"Yup. They told me everything they felt I needed to know, who was who, who I should avoid, had some interesting things to say about you." Geni commented. "Don't know how much of it's actually true."

"It's probably all true." Jeanne admitted in a whisper. Geni nodded and put her hands on her hips.

"How much of it would be true now?" She asked.

"None of it." Jeanne said fiercely. "That's thanks to you."

"Naw." Geni grinned. "I just got you to think for yourself, you did the rest of it."

"So, we're okay?" Jeanne asked hopefully.

"Of course we are, princess." Geni replied, rolling over to kiss her. "Now, what do you want to do first?"

"Get out of these clothes." Jeanne replied.

"Whoa, didn't think we were going that fast." Geni teased. Jeanne frowned at her. "Okay, okay, bad joke."

"I missed your bad jokes." Jeanne admitted.

"Oh you did, did you?" Geni said with a grin. "I should start telling more of them then." Her grin faded. "What are you going to do when you have to go back to your guardian?" She asked.

"I'm not going back, and I was hoping you'd be able to help me with that." Jeanne explained.

"You want me to smuggle you away?" Geni asked.

"I want to stay with you." Jeanne said. Geni grinned again.

"I think that can be arranged." She said. "Best part is, your so-called guardian can't even lay a hand on me without getting disqualified from the fight and kicked out."

"Really?" Jeanne asked.

"Yeah, the Patch implemented the rule, said they didn't trust me to keep my mouth shut around people I shouldn't antagonize." Geni widened her eyes, attempting to look innocent. "I can't imagine why."

"You're bad." Jeanne giggled. "And Marco can't hope to best me."

"Well then, princess, shall we get going?" Geni asked, standing and offering her elbow to Jeanne. Jeanne laughed and slid her hand into the crook of Geni's arm and allowed herself to be led like a lady with her gentleman.


	11. Chapter 11

Star: I own nothing!

Jeanne turned around, feeling the material of the long shorts she was wearing brush against her knees and pulled at the bottom of her t-shirt. She turned to look at herself in the mirror, avoiding the piles of clutter in Geni's room. Some things never changed, she supposed.

The shorts were faded denim, frayed at the bottoms evenly and went down to her knees. They were a little bit loose on her, but she found she liked that. The t-shirt was a Doctor Who t-shirt, TARDIS blue with the show's logo along with tick marks all over it. It was a little big on her, as Geni was a little more… gifted, in the way of breasts in any case.

"What do you think?" Geni asked, twisting her own t-shirt hem in her hands.

"I am very pale." Jeanne finally declared. She knew she was, but being able to see her body exposed like this in normal clothes, and in comparison to Geni's tanned skin she positively glowed.

"You're practically albino, wonder if you actually are." Geni mused. "Pretty though, like a little china doll that could fuck you up."

"Hm." Jeanne pulled her hair back from her face, seeing how it would look if she put it up instead of leaving it down. Geni reached out and twirled a lock of hair between her fingers.

"Always liked your hair, looks like moonlight." She said.

"That was very nearly poetic." Jeanne said.

"You say that with such surprise." Geni replied with a smirk. "What do you think? Wanna go out and shock people?"

"I don't know if I'm ready for that yet." Jeanne said uneasily. "Can we go back to the lake, and just hang around there and I can decide then?"

"Yeah, yeah, I like the lake, the lake is nice. Saw a really big trout there yesterday." Geni said. "Should teach you how to fish."

"I don't really like fish." Jeanne said.

"Neither do I, I just put them back when I'm done." Geni laughed. "Come on, let's go." She said.

"Aren't you going to put on shoes?" Jeanne asked.

"Nope, don't really need them around here, nothing much to cut my feet on." She wiggled her, admittedly dusty, toes.

"Then I don't need shoes either." Jeanne declared. Geni offered her hand with a wild grin and Jeanne took it, allowing Geni to practically drag her out of the little house that Geni had and out into the forest. She'd never gone barefoot before, not outside like this and it was strange to feel the ground and the grass beneath her feet. Her feet were already quite tough though, because of the various tortures she'd put them through, so they did not get sore.

"I've missed you." Jeanne said.

"I haven't been gone that long yet." Geni laughed.

"Long enough for me, you're the only true friend that I have and I was worried I wouldn't get a chance to properly date you and do all those things that couples are supposed to do." Jeanne replied.

"So no second thoughts then?" Geni asked.

"I've known I was in love with you for over a year." Jeanne admitted. "Just too much of a coward to admit it."

"Eh well, that's something we have in common." Geni shrugged. They came out of the woods to the lake and Jeanne breathed a sigh. "What's up?"

"I'm going to have to talk to Marco eventually, I can't just leave without an explanation, he deserves at least that." Jeanne explained. "But what do I say?"

"You're asking the wrong person, if it was me I'd just be saying your morals suck and I don't like them anymore, plus I like girls." Geni replied.

"I was hoping for some tact." Jeanne admitted drily. "I don't know, I suppose I'll think of something."

"In the meantime, no moping!" Geni yelled. Jeanne shrieked as she was lifted off her feet and carried out to the end of the little dock set up in the lake. She had a moment to realize what was about to happen before she was sailing through the air. She landed with a mighty splash in the cool water, sinking down a little before instinct kicked in and she pushed for the surface, gasping as her head came out of the water.

Geni laughed wildly and performed a backwards flip off the dock, splashing down beside her and spraying her with more water. She popped back up at the surface, grinning hugely at Jeanne. "You are so annoying sometimes." Jeanne said, unable to keep herself from laughing.

"You like me anyways." Geni teased.

"Yes, unfortunately." Jeanne replied. Geni splashed her with water. Jeanne splashed her back and it evolved into an all-out water fight with the two of them giggling and shrieking as they pelted each other with water.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" The familiar voice was enough to make Jeanne stiffen and look up. Hao Asakura smirked down at her from the edge of the dock. He'd grown, taller and broader, his face narrower and his hair just as long as it had been before.

"Ahh, the asshole cometh." Geni intoned, letting out a maniacal cackle. Hao looked at her, raising an eyebrow. "I'm Geni, pretty sure all of you have been warned about me."

"Indeed." Hao agreed. "An unfortunate rule, really."

"For you, maybe, makes life more fun for me 'cause I can just keep running my mouth like always." Geni grinned.

"And you, have you nothing to say to me, little girl?" Hao queried, smirking at Jeanne. "Nothing about how you will purge the world of my total evil?"

"I am not a child anymore." Jeanne replied. "I do not think you are pure evil. I do, however, think you are an asshole."

Hao's momentary look of shock was priceless to behold, as was Geni's roar of laughter. "Hell of a first curse word!" Geni declared.

"Well, if I was going to do it, may as well make it memorable." Jeanne replied imperiously.

"Oh, I have taught you well, young padawan." Geni intoned.

"You are a dork." Jeanne said, shaking her head.

"Yeah, you fell in love with this dork." Geni countered with a crazy grin.

"Fair point." Jeanne conceded. She snuck a glance at Hao, who was looking rather lost. She liked being able to pull one on him, even if it was just throwing him off-balance slightly. "Nobody ever said I was good at making my own decisions though." Geni cackled at that.

"Well yeah, I think you proved that the day you walked in my studio to talk shit about my dancing." She replied. "Can we help you with anything or are you going to just stand there looking like a dork?"

Hao looked offended for a moment before his smirk returned. "I had heard that the Iron Maiden had been stolen by a crazy pirate. I wanted to see if there was any truth to the tale." He answered. "Although you don't look very stolen to me, Iron Maiden."

Jeanne sighed. "I am not that anymore, so you can stop with the names, if you want to refer to me, it's just Jeanne now." Hao's eyebrows went up at that.

"Jeanne? Has the angel fallen?" He asked, looking wickedly amused.

"I was no angel to begin with." Jeanne said with a sniff. "I grew up, learned a little something about the world around me."

"Corrupted then." Hao said. "What does your lap dog have to say about that?"

"Nothing, if he knows what's good for him." Geni muttered.

"You're not going to try to hit him, are you?" Jeanne asked worriedly.

"Maybe, maybe not. Jackass still needs to be hit for not telling you the facts of life." Geni replied. "But I can do that later. I'm hungry, what about you?"

"Hmm, yes."

"Pancakes?"

"Pancakes." Jeanne agreed.

"Alright, last one to the house is a rotten Tauntaun." Geni said, racing for the shore, completely ignoring Hao. Jeanne followed her example and pelted out of the water, 'accidently' splashing Hao along the way. Hey, who said she couldn't have fun with this? She was sure she was only giving him more ammo to use against her, but she was having fun and she didn't care right now.


	12. Chapter 12

Star: I own nothing!

"You're avoiding the inevitable." Geni commented as Jeanne brushed out her hair.

"I am not." Jeanne protested. "I'm preparing myself."

"Meaning you are putting it off as long as humanly possible." Geni replied, flopped on her bed and grinning at Jeanne. "Princess, I know you, remember?"

"You're the only one who actually does." Jeanne replied. "That's the problem, I was never really… real to Marco. I was an ideal, an idol, and I can't be that anymore."

"So tell him that, don't give him a chance to argue with you and then walk away if he tries." Geni said with a shrug. "That's what I do."

"You're ruder about it though." Jeanne pointed out.

"Yes I am." Geni replied smugly. Jeanne shook her head at her… could she call Geni a girlfriend yet? Was it too early to be thinking like that? "Or we could hide out here and watch movies and shows until you actually have to compete."

"Oh dear." Jeanne said, suddenly realizing something.

"What's the matter?" Geni asked.

"I'm going to have to find a new team to compete with." Jeanne explained.

"Might not." Geni shrugged. "I been hearing that they're switching things up for this round."

"Really? How so?" Jeanne asked.

"No one will tell me." Geni replied. "Guess they don't want it getting out somehow, and technically I'm not part of the clan, at least not initiated anyways."

"Here's a question, you're not a shaman, but can you see the dead?" Jeanne asked.

"Yup." Geni replied cheerily. "Seems I'm Patch enough for that at least, so it'll be fun to watch you trouncing people." Jeanne giggled at that. "So how will you change the world?"

"I don't know yet. Certainly not the way I was going to before." She shuddered at the thought. "Perhaps I should speak to Yoh Asakura, he accepts all people and I am certain his idea of a perfect world is one in which no one gets hurt intentionally."

"Yeah, seems that way from what I've heard. Sounds like a good guy." Geni answered. "His fiancé is a badass and I like that too."

"Anna?" Jeanne asked. "Yes, she is quite… badass." Her Oracle Pager beeped and she looked down at it. "We are assembling in the arena." She told Geni.

"Alrighty then, let's get our asses out of here." Geni replied. "You are about to shock a lot people, princess." She added, looking at Jeanne's shorts and Star Wars t-shirt.

"That's the idea." Jeanne replied loftily.

"Sometimes I think I've rubbed off on you just a little too much." Geni commented as they walked out the door. "But then I remember how much fun this has all been, corrupting you, princess." She hugged Jeanne and kissed her temple as they walked. Jeanne felt her heart skip a beat. So this was love, to quote Cinderella. She could get used to this, kisses and touching and teasing and flirting.

They made it to the arena in good time, their feet and ankles all dusty by the time they stopped. The sensation of dirt and sand on her feet was novel and not unpleasant. She wiggled her toes and dug them into the sandy floor of the arena. She'd chosen a spot near the wall, having had an attack of nervousness as they'd entered. It was less likely she'd be seen this way.

Goldva appeared on the giant screen in the arena. "Are you related to Goldva as well?" Jeanne asked as Goldva welcomed the shamans to the tournament.

"Yeah she's my great aunt, I call her Grantie." Geni grinned. "She hates it."

"You're a pain." Jeanne shook her head. She then tilted her head and frowned; Goldva had just said that their teams would be chosen for them this round. "Hm, that's interesting."

"Good way to see if you can work as a team with people you don't necessarily know." Geni said. "Think the Great Spirit's trying to test for things other than just strength. Always thought just having the strongest person be the biggest criteria for the Shaman King was stupid anyways."

"I suppose." Jeanne said, waiting to see her name pop up on the screen. When it did she jerked in surprise at the other two names up there with her.

"Well, talk about stacking the decks." Geni commented, folding her arms across her chest and looking wickedly amused. "Hao and Yoh Asakura with Jeanne the princess."

"This could go very badly." Jeanne said, hiding a laugh behind a hand. She saw Yoh Asakura searching through the crowd.

"Oi! Yoh Asakura, over here!" Geni yelled when she saw who Jeanne was looking at. Yoh lifted his head and blinked at her, and then saw Jeanne and ambled over with Anna in tow.

"Uh, hi, Iron Maiden." Yoh said, smiling easily.

"Just Jeanne is fine." Jeanne replied. Yoh blinked rapidly a couple times at this.

"Okay, hi Jeanne." He said.

"Hello, Yoh." Jeanne replied.

"Isn't this cozy?" Hao said, sauntering up. "I see you still have your pet human." He added, looking at Geni.

"Bow wow." Geni said cheerfully.

"Good puppy, you can have a biscuit later." Jeanne said, playing along with the joke.

"Yay!" Geni bounced up and down, her dreads flying everywhere. Anna frowned at her. "Hi, I'm Geni, I'm also Batman." Jeanne didn't quite manage to suppress her laughter and it came out as a rather ugly snort. Yoh and Hao looked at her curiously and she was struck by how similar, and yet how different they looked.

Yoh had a more open face, gentle and kind, where Hao was far more intense, his face hard and constantly smirking. Yoh's eyes expressed a delight with the world and an eternal optimism that was as intriguing as it was inviting. His hair was longer now, down past his shoulders, but he didn't look like Hao, not that much.

"We should discuss strategy." Yoh said. "Somewhere away from the crowd, maybe?"

"An actual intelligent suggestion." Hao said condescendingly. Yoh's shoulders stiffened at the tone and Jeanne felt sorry for Yoh. It couldn't be easy, trying to live up to expectations and having people, like the X-Laws, constantly comparing him and lumping him in with Hao.

"Think Silva's at the café, we can go bug him." Geni suggested. "I'm starved."

"You're always hungry." Jeanne accused.

"So are you, miss ate-the-whole-bowl-of-popcorn-without-me-looking." Geni teased. Jeanne stuck her tongue out at her. "Ah, a most intelligent rebuttal."

"You taught me it." Jeanne replied as they walked out of the arena.

"Sorry, how did you two meet?" Yoh asked. "It's just you don't seem like the type of person…" He trailed off looking a little embarrassed.

"It's okay, I know what kind of person I was." Jeanne replied. "I was taking ballet classes, to alleviate boredom and discovered her dancing in a studio by herself. She was rude to me, I was rude to her and we became friends."

"Interesting." Hao said in an even tone.

"What are you, a Vulcan?" Geni asked. Hao merely looked at her. "And you don't even know what that is." Geni sighed. "At least princess does now."

"Princess?" Hao repeated.

"A nickname that is Geni's and Geni's alone." Jeanne said fiercely. Hao smirked at her and she resisted the urge to smack the look right off his face. They sat down at the café, Silva groaning when he saw Geni. "Is that a common reaction from family members?" Jeanne asked.

"Yup!" Geni said cheerfully. "I ask too many questions, I'm too blunt and I like to tease past what normal people would consider to be over the top."

"Oh, here comes trouble." Hao commented. Jeanne didn't have to turn to know who he was talking about. She squared her shoulders and prepared for the inevitable.


	13. Chapter 13

Star: I own nothing!

Jeanne turned her head to face the one who had called her. Marco marched towards them, looking equal parts angry, confused and, somehow, apologetic. "Marco." She said quietly.

"Why did you not come back my lady?" He demanded. "Surely you could have overpowered your captor." He gave Geni a hard look, which earned him a cheeky wave. "And your clothes! This is not proper at all, my lady."

Jeanne took a deep breath. "I don't really care what's proper anymore, Marco." She said evenly. Marco stared, eyes bulging, his mouth working but no words coming out, his face turning an alarming shade of purple.

"Jesus, I think he's going to fucking pop." Geni declared. That brought Marco's attention back to her and he narrowed his eyes at her.

"You have done something to her, haven't you?" He yelled.

"Geni has done nothing but be my friend for the last three years." Jeanne said. "And don't you dare think to harm her because I will not allow it."

"Not to mention I basically have diplomatic immunity." Geni muttered. Yoh was watching the proceedings with concern while Hao looked on with bright interest. Jeanne ignored the both of them for the moment, needing to compose herself to do this.

"My lady, I don't understand." Marco said plaintively.

"Not 'my lady', just Jeanne." Jeanne told him gently. He stared, apparently not comprehending.

"What she is saying is your little angel has hung up her halo." Hao supplied smugly. That Marco understood.

"This cannot be, my lady." He protested. "You are the hope of humanity, a goddess incarnate, the saviour-"

"And a person with her own dreams and ideas." Jeanne interrupted. "I cannot stay the Iron Maiden, because I am no longer that rigid, sheltered, ignorant child I once was. I do not want to be that."

"I do not understand." Marco said.

"You taught me the world is evil, and that anyone who does not believe in me must die because they are sinners, but it is not true." Jeanne looked at Geni, who smiled. "Geni doesn't believe in any sort of god, but she is good, and kind. She helped me when I needed it and she pushed me to think instead of blinding obeying everything I was taught. She got me to read and question, and see the world and I have discovered it to be beautiful."

"You have allowed yourself to be misled, my lady, you must see that." Marco pleaded.

"No, I've opened my eyes." Jeanne retorted. "You kept me ignorant of the world because if I knew what people were really like I would recoil from harming them simply because they refuse to give up their beliefs for mine. You fed me the knowledge you wanted me to know and kept me from seeing anything that contradicted it, so I believed it was true."

"I wanted to keep you free from the taint of the world." Marco said weakly.

"Maybe you truly believed that, which might actually be worse because there are amazing people in the world, including Geni, and I would have killed them simply because they were in my way. That is not justice. That is as bad as the Holocaust, or the Crusades and I will have no part in it."

"Let's talk about this." Marco said desperately. "My lady, please."

"And that's why I cannot do this anymore." Jeanne said. "Because I will only ever be 'my lady' to you, I will never be a real person. I don't want to be an idol, I am telling you this and you will not listen, so I cannot go back with you and I will not talk about this anymore."

"I have given you everything, my lady!" Marco cried. "What more do you want of me?"

"You never gave me everything. You never gave me freedom, to simply be instead of filling me up with expectations of who I was and what I was meant to do." Jeanne retorted.

"Did you ever want for anything?" Marco demanded. "Was I ever unkind to you and yet you repay me with this?" He was starting to get angry.

"Even the most beautiful, comfortable cage is still a cage." Jeanne replied. Geni nodded in approval. "I have not been allowed to discover myself, until I met Geni. She taught me it was okay to question, to experiment and to follow what you feel. She is my best friend, and my first love." There, she said it, now to see how Marco reacted.

It took him a moment to realize what she was saying, but she knew immediately when he did because his eyes bulged. "That… you cannot-"

"I can." Jeanne replied. "I've known for quite some time now. Men hold no interest whatsoever for me, but women…" Geni punctuated her statement with a purring noise. "It was only logical that after realizing that that the person I would fall for would be the only one who treated me as human." She held up a hand to stop Marco's next words. "I was never merely human to you." She told him. "With Geni I was allowed to get angry, I was allowed to be rude, I was allowed to be a teenager. I was expected to be 'proper' with you."

Marco opened his mouth again but Geni beat him to the punch. "Buddy, give it up. She's as stubborn as I am and I'm an ornery bitch, so you should just back off." She informed him.

"You have poisoned her." Marco snarled at Geni. Geni laughed at him.

"All I did was have a different opinion, and defend that opinion." She said. "I mean maybe I didn't have to offer her books on the arguments against religion, but me I like to see people take an educated and informed approach if they are going to argue about the things I'm passionate about. She didn't have to take the book and she didn't reject religion. Not my fault you never gave her anything decent to read."

"You, you-" Marco seemed incapable of forming a coherent sentence.

"Bitch?" Geni supplied sweetly, cocking her head at him and grinning wickedly. "Maybe if you had even once asked what she wanted out of life we wouldn't be in this situation, but you never did, did you? Just expected her to go along with you and be happy for her whole life, right? Maybe it would have worked too, if you kept her completely away from the world, but you didn't, so that's your mistake."

"You probably are using her, you probably don't even care!" Marco snarled.

"Ooh, hitting below the belt, are we? What possible reason would I have to string along this little bit of a princess who basically told me I was going to hell for my dancing the first time we met?" Geni queried. "And don't try to tell me you care so much, all you care about is your perfect little goddess. Could she ever come to you for a hug? Could she ever tell you she was unhappy? Do you know her favourite food? Or even her favourite colour?"

"Of course it is white." Marco scoffed. Jeanne shook her head and sighed.

"Wrong again." Geni said, far too gleeful. "It's red."

Red. Not any particular shade, just red; the colour of roses and blood and sunsets and sunrises. It was the colour of passion, anger and love. It was the colour of Geni's music, the loud, fast music with the bass beats that thudded through her entire body. Red was dancing made tangible. Most importantly red was the colour of Geni.

"She is right." Jeanne said, lifting her eyes to Marco's. "You don't really know me, and that is my fault because I hid it. But I hid it because I knew you wouldn't understand and that you would take me away from my one source of freedom, and my one friend, so I am not sorry for it."

Marco was once again struck speechless, but this time he looked angry. "I think it's time for us to go." Geni murmured to her.

"I think you're right." Jeanne replied. "Forgive us, but it is time for us to leave." She told her new teammates. "If you wish to see me, just send me a message through the pagers." She then gripped Geni's shoulder and teleported them to her home.

"Well, I think that went well." Geni said cheerily.


	14. Chapter 14

Star: I own nothing!

"We need to go shopping." Jeanne declared when they were back in Geni's home.

"I hate shopping." Geni complained.

"I've never done it." Jeanne shrugged. "But I cannot continue to go about in your clothes, as comfortable as they are. I want something of my own, things I've picked out on my own."

"I guess I can appreciate that." Geni said, scratching at her head. "And it gets us away from the valley for Marco's temper tantrum." Jeanne giggled. "I suppose I could bug Silva into giving us a ride to the nearest town. There's an outlet mall there, not much, but they do have a couple places to get geek t-shirts."

"Well, that's the most important thing, isn't it?" Jeanne teased.

"Come on, princess, you're probably better at giving puppy eyes than I am." Geni said, offering her arm. Jeanne took the offered arm and the two of them headed out the door. Silva was already waiting outside.

"Causing a stir, are we?" He asked, equal parts exasperated and amused.

"Not my fault, talk to her." Geni said, gesturing at Jeanne. "She's the one who came out to Marco."

"I can't imagine that went well." Silva commented.

"Nope." Geni said cheerily. "Anyways, since you're here…"

"Oh no…" Silva groaned.

"It's nothing bad, Jeannie just wants to get some clothes of her own." Geni replied. "She doesn't want my hand-me-downs."

"I suppose I can spare an afternoon." Silva sighed. "You owe me." He told Geni.

"I tricked up your stereo, I feel like you still owe me." Geni retorted. "But, I can make you some cookies if you're that put out."

"Deal." Silva said. "Come on then, I don't have to work for the rest of the day."

%&%&%&%

Admittedly Jeanne had gone a little crazy with the clothes. There were just so many styles and colours and things to try and see if she liked. Geni's patience had been worn completely down by the end of the day. A few kisses soon sweetened her mood again though.

Jeanne had also discovered that having a bra that was properly fitted made all the differences, and that thongs were the most uncomfortable things to ever exist. She was quite pleased with the purchases she had made, even getting a couple pairs of silk panties, just for the feel of them against her skin and the slightly scandalous feeling she got from them. It was delightful.

"I really like that skirt." Geni commented, frying bacon in an oversized t-shirt and a pair of panties. She didn't seem to have a problem walking around half or fully nude in the house. Jeanne looked down at the skirt she was wearing, fingering the material. It went down to mid-calf and was made of a light material that settled in folds around her legs. It was green until about two-thirds of the way down, and then blue and then purple for the last several inches. It swished around her legs pleasingly when she moved.

"I like it too." Jeanne replied.

"Be a good dancing dress, especially for something like a samba or something." Geni said. Jeanne twirled, letting the skirt fan around her. "Ooh, don't do that, you're going to distract me and I'll burn the bacon."

"That would be a shame, now wouldn't it?" Jeanne teased.

"Hey, bacon is the closest thing I have to religion." Geni replied. Jeanne was about to reply when her Oracle Pager buzzed. She looked at it. "You got to go?" Geni asked.

"I can eat breakfast, but Yoh wants to work out some kind of strategy with me and Hao." Jeanne said. "Oh dear." She added.

"What?"

"I don't have any sort of weapon to help me." Jeanne explained. "It was part of my Iron Maiden that I used before." Geni shuddered at the mention of it.

"Let me think, ahh, I have a whip." Geni suggested.

"Why… Did you by any chance try to be Indiana Jones at one point?" Jeanne asked.

"Maybe." Geni said with a bashful grin. "It's a real whip, good leather and everything. Make it easy for you to move around with it."

"It'll work for now, until I sort out how I'm going to be fighting from now on." Jeanne replied.

"It should be in the closet, just watch out for the clutter." Geni advised. Jeanne went and searched, finding the whip without much trouble. It was well-crafted, sturdy but not too heavy. She finished breakfast quickly.

"Are you coming?" She asked Geni.

"I'll be along a little later, gotta earn my keep you know." Geni grinned.

"I know that no one's allowed to touch you, but I still worry, especially about Marco." Jeanne said.

"I've got protection." Geni said. She tapped the heavy silver ring on her hand which was in the shape of an eagle. "This is one of Silva's guardians. He gave me her so that if someone did try and attack me I'd have some protection. Don't think she cares for the arrangement, refuses to talk to me."

"Well, so long as she protects you that's all that matters." Jeanne kissed Geni on the cheek goodbye and headed out the door. She had put on shoes today, a pair of slip-on Vans in a pink and green plaid pattern. She walked into the woods; Yoh had said they were meeting by the lake that she and Geni had swum in.

Yoh was already waiting, with Anna and a few of his friends. He smiled when he saw her, tentative, as though not sure if she would return the gesture. She waved back, smiling widely as she walked to him. His own smile broadened into that easy, sure grin that he normally wore. It was a comforting look, like everything was somehow going to be alright.

"How are you today, Jeanne?" he asked.

"I'm good." Jeanne replied. "And you?" He shrugged his shoulders, still smiling.

"You look nice today." He offered. Jeanne swished her skirt.

"Thank you." She replied.

"I don't know if Hao will actually show up, or if he'd feel it's a waste of time." Yoh admitted.

"He might also find it amusing." Jeanne said drily. Yoh nodded in agreement. She saw a weary look steal across his face. She wasn't the only one who was expected to do great things, she realized, and he was far more trapped than she had been.

"He'll come if he knows what's good for him." Anna muttered. The blonde glared for a moment at Jeanne, probably remembering all the grief she'd put Yoh and his friends through the last time.

"You sure your friend is going to be alright?" Yoh asked, sounding genuinely concerned. "I know Marco can be a bit… extreme."

"Yes, he taught me everything I know about being extreme, but I trust Geni, and she's protected by one of Silva's spirits." Jeanne said. She scowled then, fiercely. "Not to mention I would show no mercy if he did do something to her."

"Still clinging to your bloodthirsty ways, I see." Hao commented, sauntering out of the woods at the head of his own retinue.

"You're one to talk." Jeanne snapped. "Are you the pot or the kettle?" Hao merely smirked at her.

"I'm surprised you're not keeping your new pet close." He commented.

"As if she'd stay." Jeanne scoffed, ignoring the jibe at Geni.

"Well, now that we're all here, we should talk strategy." Yoh said, breaking the tension.

"That's easy, just stay out of my way." Hao said.

"No." Yoh and Jeanne said at the same time. Yoh looked at her with some surprise for a moment before continuing.

"The point of doing it this way is so that we work together as a team." He said. "We're not going to sit back and watch you slaughter everyone you don't think makes the cut."

"We'll attack you ourselves if we have to, which would probably disqualify us all." Jeanne added. "And don't try and tell me that I am being a hypocrite because I've changed, I will not kill someone simply for standing for something other than what I stand for."

"Pretty words." Hao sneered. "But, I concede, just this once. I don't have to kill on the battlefield, after all."


	15. Chapter 15

Star: I own nothing!

Geni skipped her way through the woods, singing to 'Eye of the Tiger'. She had a terrible singing voice, she wasn't afraid to admit it, but she loved to sing so she refused to stop. She began to hear sounds other than the birds and the squirrels yelling at her to shut up and grinned, breaking into a fast jog. She was in time to see Jeanne turn her whip into a chain and hurl it at the blue-haired dude; she thought his name was Horu or something?

"Whoo! That's my girl!" She shouted, bouncing in place. Hao looked over at her.

"And what are you doing here?" He demanded.

"Hey, if your peanut gallery can be here, I can be here." Geni said, gesturing at the people she knew were Hao's little 'fan club'. "I got a girlfriend to cheer on."

"Hi, Geni!" Jeanne called.

"Hey, princess, looking good." Geni replied, ambling out further from the trees, sticking her hands in her pockets.

"Already done?" Jeanne asked.

"Not much to do, to be honest." Geni shrugged. "Unless something breaks I'm pretty well having to entertain myself."

"Oh, dear." Jeanne said, a hand over her mouth.

"What? I'm not that bad." Geni protested. "Granted I do tend to get into things I'm not supposed to and say the wrong things to the wrong people… yeah, I am that bad." She clapped her hands together. "So, the chain." She grinned.

"I thought it was fitting." Jeanne replied, hefting her weapon.

"Symbolic." Geni said, and Jeanne nodded in agreement. "Also you can show off that flexibility you got from dancing."

"Dancing?" This question came from a girl with orangey-coloured pigtails.

"Ayup." Geni agreed. "That's how we met, at the dance studio. She's got the moves, let me tell you that." They were all staring at her now, to which she gave them her best winning smile and plopped herself on the ground, adjusting her tool belt. Jeanne gave her a smile and she waved back.

"Dancing, like that will do any good." A tall, dark haired man in a suit said. She thought his name was Lucas or something.

"Haven't you ever noticed that fighting, particularly martial arts, looks a lot like dancing?" He looked blankly at her. "No, just me, huh?" She shifted. "Dancing is good for a fighter because it keeps them limber, flexible, teaches endurance and all kinds of good things, so don't be scoffing at dancing, 'cause it's tougher than you think."

Hao's lackeys were all looking at her now, so she did the mature thing and stuck her tongue out at them. The tall dark one made a face and then fiddled with his Oracle Pager, cursing softly. Geni's techie-senses tingled and she got up into a crouch.

"Got tech troubles?" She inquired.

"What business of it is yours?" The man snarled. Geni moved and plucked the device from his hands.

"I'm the techie, you got a problem with your tech, you come to me." She looked it over, frowning, finding a very large crack in the viewing screen. "What you been doing to this thing, using it as a hammer?"

"It was sat on." The man said stiffly. Geni looked at the others. There were definitely a few big enough to put this much damage on the pager.

"Well, might just be superficial damage, is it screwing up at all?" Geni asked.

"The buttons don't press properly."

"That just might be because the screen's out of whack." Geni murmured, taking her smallest screwdriver and beginning to pry the screen off. "Well, you're in luck, doesn't look like any of the hardware's damaged, I just need a new screen. Yo, birdbrain!" She said, tapping the ring on her finger. Silver Wing materialized in front of her, scowling as much as a bird could.

"You should show some respect." He squawked.

"Yeah, yeah, you don't know me that well, do you?" Geni retorted. "I need another screen like this, please, except not broken, there should be plenty in my workshop."

"Fine." Silver Wing said, disappearing.

"He likes me." Geni said to her curious onlookers.

"If that's liking you than I'm Han Solo." Jeanne called.

"Does that mean I get to be Princess Leia?" Geni asked.

"You'd be Chewy." Jeanne replied.

"Ouch! That hurts, princess." Geni said, putting a hand over her heart and widening her eyes imploringly. Silver Wing reappeared and dropped the screen on the grass and disappeared again. "Didn't even let me say thank you, how rude."

She muttered to herself as she slid the new screen into place, making sure it was firmly in and turning on the device. She played with the buttons for a few minutes, making sure everything was working properly and then nodded her head, satisfied. She tossed it back to Hao's lackey.

"Now don't let anyone sit on it again." She admonished, wagging a finger at him playfully. He frowned at her and replaced the pager in his pocket. She turned back to the spectacle that was Jeanne, who was listening to Yoh Asakura saying something, while Hao leaned against a tree, looking smugly amused. She wanted to punch that look right off his face.

"You made the little Iron Maiden into a lesbian." The orangey-haired girl said, giggling. "That's funny, are you a witch?"

"Well, my Hogwarts letter never came." Geni joked. The girl looked at her blankly. Geni sighed. "Surrounded by muggles." She shook her case. "In any case, you can't turn someone gay, no more than you can change a cat to a cow. I… just got her to think of a few things."

"But how'd she know?" The orangey girl persisted.

"Anne Hathaway in a cat suit, that's how." Geni sighed as they looked blank. "Y'all need to brush up on modern pop culture, this is ridiculous."

"It's a pity you'll die with the rest of the humans." The tall blue-haired girl said.

"Tell that to Jeanne, I'd be prepared to run for your life." Geni retorted.

"She'll be dead too, no competition for Hao-sama."

"I'm talking to a bunch of homicidal maniacs, when the fuck did my life become a comic book?" Geni muttered to herself. "And your little Hao-sama couldn't get things done the last time around, what makes you think he can do it this time?" She demanded, well aware that she should probably keep her mouth shut at this point.

"You watch your mouth human, or we'll-"

"You'll what?" Geni jeered, enjoying herself way too much. "Diplomatic fucking immunity, remember?" She grinned nastily.

"Typical nasty little human." The tall dark one said.

"Oi, you started it." Geni pointed out. "Talking about how I'm going to die and my girlfriend's going to die, can't expect me not to have something to say about that, you asshole."

"Geni, stop picking fights!" Jeanne called.

"I'll stop when they stop." Geni replied, feeling ornery. She saw Jeanne say something to Yoh, who shrugged and nodded his head, smiling easily. Jeanne then walked over to Geni.

"Come on." She said.

"What? Where are we going?" Geni asked, tilting her head. "I was having fun."

"Your fun is going to get you killed." Jeanne replied. "We're getting lunch. You're more likely to say stupid things when you're hungry."


	16. Chapter 16

Star: I own nothing!

"You've got good flexibility, but you need more control in your movements." Yoh commented, watching Jeanne, not the Iron Maiden, he had to remind himself of that fact, spar with Horohoro.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"Well, you need to watch your opponent more." Yoh said. "You often leave yourself open for a counterattack when you strike out at someone, and you do movements that if you were to overbalance or get hit that would seriously hurt you."

"Oh, I see." Jeanne said. "It's like chess."

"Yeah, that's right." Yoh said. "I know some people think that fighting's not a smart past time but you're always having to think about what you're going to do and how the other people are going to react to it. You really have to be a couple steps ahead to get anywhere."

"You know, Marco used to say that you're not that smart." Jeanne commented. "I'm glad that's another thing he was wrong about."

"He hasn't tried anything on you or your girlfriend, has he?" Yoh asked. He was starting to feel protective of her, just like he felt for all his friends. Jeanne shook her head.

"Whether it's because he fears my wrath, or because he is planning something, I do not know." She paused. "It does worry me some. Not for myself, you understand."

"Yeah, I'm always more worried about my friends than myself. It's gotten me into some trouble." Yoh chuckled.

"I know." Jeanne said. "I'm sorry for that."

"Eh, it's all in the past." Yoh said cheerfully. "A lot of people have tried to kill me, the X-Laws aren't the first and they won't be the last." He realized how bad that sounded when Jeanne winced and shook her head. "Sorry. Sort of becomes routine after a while."

"Only if you are fool enough to let it happen more than once." Yoh jumped at the sound of Hao's voice behind him and let out a strangled yip. As he turned Hao gave him a condescending smirk, as usual.

"Most people actually care about whether or not the people they consider companions die." Jeanne retorted.

"Do you speak from experience?" Hao queried. Jeanne bristled.

"I cared, I just believed that their deaths were necessary." She said. "I know differently now."

"Your pet human, I assume." Hao said.

"Somehow I think she'd enjoy being a pet, especially a puppy." Jeanne replied. Yoh chuckled a little bit.

"Nice easy life." He commented.

"Exactly." Jeanne agreed. "Although she'd probably be a little put off about not being able to tinker."

"Tinker?" Hao repeated.

"She likes to take apart electronics, see what's inside, see how they work." Jeanne explained. "I can only imagine her glee at being able to play with that giant screen in the arena here."

"Why do I get the feeling they had to bribe her not to just tear it apart to see what was inside." Yoh mumbled. Jeanne laughed, a full-throated guffaw, with her hands on her hips. It was strange to hear coming from the delicate-looking sixteen year old who had once only worn very princessey dresses when she wasn't torturing herself. He supposed that was the point however, that Jeanne was doing everything she could not to be that person anymore.

"And where is your pet today?" Hao asked mildly.

"Probably arguing with the other Patch about the camera system." Jeanne replied, shrugging.

"The camera system?" Yoh asked, trying to keep Hao from talking.

"She says it's too convoluted, that it's too likely it'll break, but that's all I can make out when she goes into techno-rants." Jeanne said with a shrug. "She's tried to explain it, but she jumps from one thing to another and then back again and I can never figure out what exactly she's trying to explain."

"She seems like a lot of fun." Yoh commented.

"She is." Jeanne replied, smiling fondly. "Best thing that ever happened to me."

"One itty-bitty human and you change your entire world view." Hao chuckled.

"You should try it some time." Jeanne replied.

"I'm not as weak-minded as you obviously are." Hao replied.

"You don't live among them, you keep out of contact at all costs, I wonder why?" Jeanne countered. "Are you afraid of what you'll find?" Hao scowled momentarily, but then it turned into a smirk.

"You've actually learned how to debate intelligently, I approve." He said.

"You can thank Geni for that too." Jeanne replied. Hao didn't seem to be able to find anything to say to that one.

%&%&%&%

"Moon of my life, my sun and stars!" Geni bellowed, making Jeanne laugh as the older girl raced up to her and lifted her off her feet. The advantage of Geni being a little soft and squishy was that no one really believed how strong she really was until she wanted them to. "Hey, what's up?" She asked Yoh and his friends, who were sitting down in the café.

"Not bad." Yoh replied. "Are you joining us?" he asked.

"Ayup, I'm starving." Geni plopped down in a chair, lifting one leg to settle it across Jeanne's lap when she sat down. "Your old guard dog spent half of my work day glaring at me, it was unnerving."

"Only half?" Jeanne asked. "What did you do?" She demanded after a moment's thought.

"Mooned him." Geni replied. Yoh's blue-haired friend, his name was Horror or something like that, spat out his drink all over the pointy-haired boy, which made the pointy-haired boy, Ren or something, punch him so hard he flew out of his chair and bounced off the ground.

"I suppose that's one way to get your point across." Anna said, glaring at Ren, who sat down, growling softly. Damn, Geni had to learn just how Anna did that.

"Oh, hi Lyserg." Yoh said, looking behind Geni and Jeanne. There was a smile on his face, but it seemed a little strained at the edges. Geni turned and found herself staring up at a tall boy with green hair, wearing a white uniform, just like Marco's.

"Jesus fucking Christ." Jeanne swore beside her. Lyserg's eyes widened comically. Jeanne seemed to be getting that reaction a lot lately. Geni liked it, it was funny.

"So it's true." Lyserg breathed. "You have been-"

"If you say anything like corrupted or brainwashed I will punch you in the face." Jeanne said sternly.

"Ouch, princess, a little harsh, don't you think?" Geni asked.

"I'm getting sick of hearing it, I'm sorry." Jeanne said.

"I imagine it is getting annoying." Yoh said mildly.

"But… why?" Lyserg gasped.

"I'm sure Marco gave you some bullshit, so I'm going to tell you my side of the story." Jeanne said. Geni was pleased by how comfortable Jeanne was getting with cursing. "I grew up, I learned about the world and I decided to start making my own choices. I stopped wanting to be an idol and I just want to be human."

"I don't understand." Lyserg said.

"Marco sees me as a deity, a saint, and I'm not." Jeanne said. "I'm human, I want to be human, I want to be able to swim naked, experiment with sex, yell and scream and swear when I'm mad, but I can't do that if he is running my life. Do you understand that?"

"I... guess." Lyserg said. Jeanne smiled at him.

"I don't like you in that uniform, Lyserg." Jeanne said gently. "It scares me."


	17. Chapter 17

Star: I own nothing!

"You're little fan boy hasn't shed the uniform." Jeanne looked up at Hao's comment and scowled when she saw Lyserg hovering at the edge of the clearing.

"Motherfuck." She muttered.

"Your use of profane language is highly amusing." Hao said.

"Everything I do seems to be amusing to you, I'm glad I am so funny." She said sarcastically. Hao's smirk grew.

"Oh, I like you much better this way, it's more fun." He said.

"Then you should be thanking Geni." Jeanne pointed out. "even though she's one of those awful, evil little humans." She mocked. Hao eyed her expressionlessly for a moment and then pointedly looked away.

"You know, it's no fair condemning someone for the way they're born." Geni drawled as she walked up, bare feet mud-covered from the rainfall they'd had. "I can't help that I'm not a shaman like you."

"Human souls are rotten." Hao said. Geni made a rude noise.

"The only difference between you and me is you have fancy voodoo powers and I don't. And in any case someone can become a shaman later in life, can't they? So what then, are their souls immediately cleansed?" She asked.

"I do not wish to debate with you at this time." Hao said stiffly.

"Translation, you don't have a good answer for me." Geni said smugly. "Which means that you either think I am right or you've got some other reason to want to destroy us all."

"If you weren't protected you would be dead where you stand." Hao hissed. "Which is the only reason any cowardly human would dare be so rude."

"Ha, you don't know me very well. I don't have a mental filter so I just say what's on my mind no matter what, and there are plenty of people out there in the world who will call you on your bullshit even if it means death." Geni replied. "Right now all I'm seeing with you is the next Hitler."

"How dare you!" Hao snarled, suddenly viciously angry. Jeanne moved to Geni's side, in case Hao couldn't reign in his temper and attacked her.

"You're condemning an entire race, calling them evil, the supposed Problem of the world, and maybe I don't disagree that what we do is a problem, but from where I'm standing you're no saint, and you are looking to be the committer of the next great genocide." Geni said, refusing to back down, as she always did. Just this once Jeanne wished she would, but then, she wouldn't be Geni, would she.

"Do you know what terrible acts your precious little princess has committed?" Hao demanded. "What she wanted for the world?"

"I'd argue it's what she thought she wanted because of her guardian, but yes, I know." Geni replied. "But she's changed. If I'd found out she still wanted to hurt people like that, I'd be very mad and very hurt. But I know Jeanne, and I know what she's like as a person so I can't hate her. And I don't necessarily hate you, because you haven't done anything to me yet, but I don't like what you're all about and think it's bullshit."

"You said yourself that what you do is a problem, tell me, if you're so smart, how would you solve it?" Hao demanded condescendingly.

"I don't know, certainly not by killing people, besides, don't you think things will start to go back the way they were after you die?" Geni pointed out. "The big problem is the governments have too many chicken-shits and too many asshole business men with an agenda running things. Now if you want to change the way a global economy works I think you gotta start from the top, but I don't really know economics so don't quote me on that. Personally I don't think it matters too much in the long run though if we're left alone."

"And why is that?" Hao queried.

"Because we're just heading for extinction all on our own." Geni shrugged.

"And what makes you say that?" Hao asked, sounding intrigued.

"There's so many of us and there's only so much planet, and plus climate change is coming, there's no stopping that and I don't think we have the ability to cope with the changes this time around." Geni shrugged again. "We're already overtaxing the land we have for crops and the deserts are spreading, so I'd say humanity's got a few centuries left and then that's it for us."

"And you'll take a great deal of other creatures with you as well." Hao argued.

"Not like it hasn't happened before, they're called mass extinctions." Geni said, scratching her head. "There's been five, or six, I think, and like 80% of life was wiped out, something along those lines anyways."

"So you don't have a problem with that, but you have a problem with me speeding the process along and preventing that mass extinction." Hao said incredulously.

"I have a problem with you because I don't think your reasons are truthful. I think this is a revenge thing, which is something I really don't like." Geni said. "I just don't think it's fair not giving us a chance."

"I have had a thousand years to give you a chance." Hao growled.

"And we only just recently realized just how bad we are for the environment." Geni countered. "Rome wasn't built in a day, we need to get people on our side because there's a lot of greedy people out there that don't care and they're in power, so that's got to be fixed."

"So why don't you do something?" Hao demanded.

"Who says I haven't?" Geni retorted. "I've gone on marches, joined the environmental club at my school, buy all energy-saving electronics, try to buy local foods as much as possible, but the thing is, if the higher ups aren't listening, nothing's going to get done, I keep saying that. So if you want to get something done, start there, figure something out."

"The entire problem would be erased with the rest of humanity." Hao countered.

"So you're going to kill everyone, down to the last, itty-bitty little baby, little kids that don't even know how to be mean yet, and you call that justified?" Geni demanded.

"Now you're just grasping at straws." Hao accused.

"No, I'm really not, because it really makes me mad when someone hurts kids, and that's exactly what you are going to do because all humans must die, is that right?" Geni demanded. "So, where is the justice in that?" Hao stared at her, jaw clenching and unclenching, but he seemed to be unable to find anything to say to her.

"I think we're done for the day." Yoh said quietly, breaking the unbearable silence.

"Yes, I think that it is time we broke for dinner." Jeanne agreed. Yoh flashed her a grateful smile. Hao said nothing, simply turned and walked away. When he was gone Yoh let out a sigh of relief.

"That was too close." He commented.

"Sorry." Geni said, without any genuine emotion.

"It's okay, I think he needs to hear what you have to say and he can't stop you from saying it."

"Yes, I think that it is time we broke for dinner." Jeanne agreed. Yoh flashed her a grateful smile. Hao said nothing, simply turned and walked away. When he was gone Yoh let out a sigh of relief.

"That was too close." He commented.

"Sorry." Geni said, without any genuine emotion.

"It's okay, I think he needs to hear what you have to say and he can't stop you from saying it." Yoh said. "I get the feeling he's getting really frustrated, even if he doesn't show it."

"He's been beat three times, I'd be pretty frustrated too." Geni replied. "Then he's got a nasty little human running around he can't just exterminate."

"It's more than that I think." Yoh said, frowning slightly. Lyserg had disappeared when Hao had, probably not wanting to deal with Jeanne and Yoh's disapproval. "I think he's starting to doubt himself, at least a little and that makes him angry."

"We know how dangerous he can be when he's angry." Jeanne said softly. Yoh nodded bleakly. "Let us all be on our toes then, and see if we cannot sow more doubts in his mind."


	18. Chapter 18

Star: I own nothing!

"We're early, I think." Jeanne commented, looking around the empty clearing.

"Your fault." Geni teased. Jeanne blushed, she had hurried them both out the door this morning, but Geni had refused to wake up for the longest time and so she had thought they were going to be late. Geni bowed elegantly to Jeanne. "Shall we dance?"

"We shall." Jeanne said, curtsying and taking Geni's hand. They started with a slow and easy waltz, but Geni's erratic moods quickly shifted them to a tango and then a foxtrot and ended with a hip-hop routine.

"Impressive." Jeanne didn't even jump at Hao's voice.

"Do you have like a fetish for sneaking up on people or something?" Geni asked. "Does it get your rocks off, because you do it way, way too much to be merely amusing."

"You're a very crass individual, aren't you?" Hao commented.

"Damn it, I was hoping to squick you out." Geni grumbled.

"I have been around for a thousand years, it would take more than that to 'squick' me out." Hao replied.

"Ooh, he has a sense of humour underneath that snooty attitude." Geni grinned.

"Your opinion of me seems to flip-flop with each passing day." Hao observed.

"Can't hold a grudge to save my life." Geni shrugged. "I still think you're an asshole, if that's any consolation."

"For some reason it kind of is." Hao said and Jeanne swore she saw a brief smile flit across his face as Geni guffawed and slapped her knee.

"Fuck, I'm actually starting to like the guy who wants me and my entire species dead." Geni slung her arm around Jeanne's shoulders. "Am I crazy, or am I crazy?"

"You're in love with me, you're definitely crazy." Jeanne replied.

"What's that make you, since you fell in love with me?" Geni asked.

"Needing to be institutionalized." Jeanne deadpanned. Geni laughed and hugged her tight.

"I've taught you well, princess." She said approvingly. Yoh emerged from the forest with his friends and Geni wandered over to Anna. "So what do I gotta do to learn how you make the boys shut up and quake in fear with just a single look?" She asked the blonde. Anna gave her a startled look, but Geni kept smiling in a friendly manner.

"Why would you want to know that?" She demanded finally, sounding suspicious.

"Ack, catcallers in subways, bars, you name it, for the guys who can't take a hint you know?" Geni said. "Punching helps but I don't need a record for assault, even if the idiots deserve it."

"Catcalls, even though you are not available?" Hao asked.

"Like they know that." Geni said, rolling her eyes. "The average modern man generally thinks first with his dick, no offence." She said to the males present. "Anything with boobs gets leered at."

"How disgusting." Hao sneered.

"Hate to tell you, but some of your guys do the exact same thing." Geni told him.

"You lie." Hao said softly after a moment of stunned silence.

"I've seen it." Ren confirmed. "So much for higher morals." He said to Hao.

"You're a human though, why would they want…?" Hao asked, looking honestly baffled.

"Maybe because they're taught that we are less than people, so it wouldn't be seen as offensive if they, you know, had their way, forcefully, with someone like me?" Geni suggested. Jeanne felt a wave of fury wash over her at the thought.

"If they even tried…" She ground out, surprising everyone but Geni with her display of protective anger.

"It's part of the reason the rule is in place in the first place." Geni said. "Now, if you could make a world where people didn't have to worry about that sort of thing, that I could get behind."

"I've never understood the attraction, personally." Hao muttered. Geni blinked and tilted her head at him.

"To women?" She asked.

"To sex." Hao said. "Obviously I've had to do it, but I do not lust over other people and mate like rabbits like so many men seem to be eager to do."

"So you just don't feel physical, sexual attraction to people?" Yoh asked, sounding baffled. Jeanne had an idea of where this was going though, thanks to her being taught about the sexual spectrum.

"I can appreciate aesthetically pleasing individuals, but I do not lust after them, I am too refined for that." Hao said loftily with a smirk.

"Dude, you're not refined, you're an ace." Geni said, chuckling.

"Excuse me?" Hao demanded.

"It's not a slur, sorry, ace is short for asexual." Geni explained. "It means you don't experience sexual attraction and do not feel a drive to have sex. Some aces are actually repulsed by sex, some will do it if they need to, some enjoy it when they do have it, but just don't feel the need to."

"I have never heard of this." Hao said, frowning slightly.

"It's not a new thing, but it's been newly recognised." Jeanne supplied. "People are starting to realize there's actually no binary when it comes to orientation, that there's more of a spectrum."

"And you think I'm on that spectrum?" Hao asked, sounding a little haughty, and a little curious.

"I know a couple aces, and you fit the profile." Geni shrugged. "You could do some research yourself, I know a few good sites, but you gotta be careful about where you look because anyone can, and will, say anything on the internet and there are people who will tell you it's not real, but it is."

"And if it does not concern me that I lack any form of sex drive?" Hao enquired.

"Then don't do anything about it." Geni said. "Plenty of people feel they don't need a label for their sexuality, plenty do, whatever you choose is just fine and dandy."

"Are you asexual then, Yoh?" Horohoro asked.

"Not in the slightest." Yoh said, shaking his head. "That doesn't have to do with genetics anyways, does it?"

"Actually there's scientists who say it's about 50% genetics, but Hao's also a thousand years old, so he's carried his sexuality with him, I'm assuming." Geni said.

"You would assume correctly." Hao replied.

"Thank goodness for that." Jeanne heard Anna murmur. She looked at the blonde in surprise and Anna glared at her. Geni looked too and gave Anna a lewd grin. Anna's glare didn't seem to have an effect on Jeanne's girlfriend.

"Now that we've settled that, it's time to get to work." Anna said sharply.

"Of course, Anna." Yoh said. "You actually going to participate today, Hao?"

"Why not?" Hao said with a shrug, as amiable as Jeanne had ever seen him. "I suppose if it is teamwork that is being assessed as well as power I must show I am capable of both."

"I don't think I've ever seen a bigger ego on anyone, ever." Geni commented as Hao stepped out further into the clearing. "But at least he's got the balls to back it up."

"Wouldn't say that too close to him, he certainly doesn't need an ego boost." Jeanne commented. "At least he's actually trying now, instead of sitting there smirking at us."

"You know he might actually be worse in the field." Geni pointed out.

"Oh, please don't jinx it." Jeanne pleaded. Geni laughed and kissed her.

"Go get 'em, tiger."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~&~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~&~~~~~~~~~~~~


	19. Chapter 19

Star: I own nothing!

"Are you nervous?" Geni asked Jeanne.

"Not particularly, the team we're fighting isn't that strong, although together they are a bit more difficult than on their own." Jeanne said. "The only thing I'm particularly concerned about is Hao not listening and attempting to kill our opponents."

"That is a bit of a problem." Geni agreed. "I think he's mellowing out though, if that conversation the other day is any indication."

"You really think he's ace?" Jeanne asked.

"I do." Geni replied. "Whether or not it's important enough for him to make that decision is not my problem though. The fact that he listened without sneering at me is promising though."

"It is." Jeanne agreed. Hao had been extremely respectful of Geni's opinions the other day, which was interesting considering all the accusations Geni had made against him before. Jeanne spotted Yoh chatting with his friends by the entrance to the arena and waved. Yoh waved eagerly back and bounded over.

"How are you today?" Yoh asked, fingers tracing over Harusame's scabbard. It seemed to be a nervous tic.

"Well enough, I suppose." Jeanne replied.

"Well, I'm excited to see you all fight. I mean I've seen the videos, but that's nothing to actually seeing it in person, always more exciting, don't you think?" Geni asked eagerly.

"She had coffee this morning, ignore her." Jeanne said. "Has anyone seen Hao yet?"

"Not yet, but I really doubt he'd be late." Yoh said.

"You would be right about that." Hao commented, appearing seemingly out of nowhere. Horohoro jumped and Chocolove shrieked while Ren muttered in Mandarin, rolling his eyes. Geni's eyebrows went up and she laughed at whatever Ren was saying, making the boy eyeball her.

"Sorry, I collect languages." She said.

"An interesting thing to collect." Hao commented, eying her.

"Well, it's a hell of a lot more useful than stamps or pins, that's for sure." Geni said. "Well, you ready to go?"

"I've been ready for a thousand years." Hao responded drily.

"Do you ever get tired of making references to your age, old man?" Geni ribbed.

"Not yet." Hao replied blandly. It was interesting to watch him talk to Geni, as though he'd forgotten that she was human, or chosen to ignore that fact for the time being. If he had forgotten and saw her as an equal, how would that change his views? Would he even let it, after all this time, or just twist it as he obviously had everything else to do with humans?

"We're up against a much weaker team this time." Hao commented as they walked into the arena. "Won't be much of a fight, but we should at least make it a good show."

"A good show?" Yoh repeated.

"I think he means don't just immediately defeat them, let the crowd watch us fight for a little bit." Jeanne supplied.

"Precisely. A chance to show off, as it were, which will of course benefit your styles of fighting more than my usual, but I can adapt." Hao said.

"I know." Yoh said grimly, a shudder working through him. He smiled though, if a bit wanly. Jeanne knew he was remembering his last fight with Hao, the one that had ended with his soul being taken. Hao's facial features had gone smooth and blank, almost rigid, and she knew he was remembering too, though she had no idea what his thoughts were about it.

"Anyways, it's no fun for the audience if they don't actually get something to watch." Hao continued, breaking the silence. "Agreed?"

"Agreed. It's not interesting or advantageous for our fighting skills if we just beat them right off." Yoh said. Hao raised an eyebrow at him, clearly impressed by the wordy reply.

"Agreed." Jeanne said. "Now, let's go, wouldn't do to be late, now would it?"

"Like I would ever be late." Hao said with an arrogant toss of his head. He strode forward into the arena and Yoh and Jeanne hurried to keep up. They came out into the middle of the arena shoulder to shoulder, looking like a proper team. Their opponents, a trio Jeanne didn't really remember from the first round, were already waiting.

She didn't pay much attention to Radim's pre-fight talk, instead searching the crowd for the one person she wanted to see. She didn't have to look hard; Geni was in the front rows, waving like a maniac, bouncing up and down in excitement. Jeanne waved back and got a kiss blown her way as her reward.

"If you two are done flirting." Hao murmured in her ear.

Jeanne went pink and focused on the task at hand. Radim signalled the fight to begin and their opponents surged forward eagerly. She braced herself, bringing up her whip in a warding gesture and the one clashed with her and then sprang back. Hao moved forwards as Jeanne stepped back, slashing with his Oversoul sword at another opponent.

Something happened then that Jeanne wasn't expecting. It was like she, Yoh and Hao tapped into some common wavelength. Whenever one of them needed assistance, another was there to help. She was able to see the openings where she could help her teammates and they did the same. They all fought at barely half their strength for a time, and then, at some unspoken signal, they attacked in earnest, beating their opponents soundly.

For a moment there was just stillness, and then the stadium erupted into cheers. She saw Yoh grin wildly, high on adrenaline, and felt herself grinning back. To her surprise, and probably even more so Hao's, Yoh grabbed one of each of their hands and raised them up in a victory pose. It lasted only a few seconds, but the shock on Hao's face lasted a little while longer, before he schooled his face back to his ambiguous smile.

They walked out of the arena and into the crowd of Yoh's friends and Geni. Hao's followers apparently were not eager to try to get through the gaggle of excited teenagers and adults and had already disappeared. Hao hung back a little, clearly uncertain of what his purpose here was.

"Are we gonna go celebrate or what?" Geni's loud voice cut through the babble.

"That's a good idea, I'm starved." Yoh replied.

"You always are." Ren replied with a roll of his eyes.

"Are you coming, Hao?" Yoh asked. Hao blinked rapidly a couple times, clearly taken by surprise.

"Why would he be coming?" Horohoro demanded, sounding angry.

"He's our teammate, he should celebrate with us." Yoh replied, looking confused as to what he had done. That was Yoh for you, quick to forgive, and even quicker to forget that most people didn't invite someone who could be considered their enemy to lunch.

"If you were all of age I'd buy shots for you all." Geni teased.

"Geni, you're not even of age." Jeanne said.

"Doesn't mean I can't get booze." Geni replied. "You coming or what, hot shot?" She asked Hao.

"If you are going to badger me about it, I suppose I must." He said haughtily. "And technically I am of age, and I do enjoy wine…"

"Not a chance hot rod." Geni replied. "I am b-r-o-k-e, broke! Ain't got the funds for anything fancy like wine and methinks you'd go for the expensive shit anyways."

"That would a correct assumption, though you say it so crassly." Hao replied.

"It's part of my charm." Geni said in reply.

"I doubt that." Hao snorted.

Jeanne grinned at the two of them behind their backs. "I feel like this is the weirdest thing I've ever seen." Yoh commented. "I can't believe Hao is talking to her like this."

"Geni has a bit of a gift for getting people to talk to her." Jeanne replied. "It certainly worked on me."

"I think it's a good thing, for him, I mean." Yoh said.

"I do too."


	20. Chapter 20

Star: I own nothing!

"I can't believe he actually came with us." Geni laughed, bouncing on her bed.

"I can't believe you were the one he was conversing with." Jeanne answered with a laugh of her own.

"Well, I wouldn't stop pestering him, so there's that." Geni replied, tossing her dreads back. "I think it was either talk to me or attempt to kill me to be honest."

"Hmm yes, and that would be a shame, wouldn't it?" Jeanne teased, leaning in to kiss Geni. Geni made an agreeable sound deep in her throat and took advantage of the situation by groping Jeanne's behind. "Geni!" Jeanne yelped, pulling back, red-faced. Geni was grinning wickedly at her.

"You're so cute." Geni cooed.

"I am not cute, I am the saviour of the human race and you will show me proper respect." Jeanne said haughtily, and then dissolved into helpless giggles. "Did I actually sound like that?"

"Worse." Geni replied, making them laugh all over again.

"I like my life so much better now." Jeanne said. "Thank you." She kissed Geni again.

"The pleasure was all mine, my princess." Geni replied in a murmur. Jeanne sighed happily and snuggled into Geni's embrace. All she needed in life was right here.

%&%&%&%

"You went out for a celebration with him." Yoh didn't flinch at the accusatory tone of Lyserg's voice but it was a near thing.

"Geni invited him and he agreed to come." Yoh replied with a shrug. "It was his celebration too, he had every right to be there."

"Geni, the human, invited him?" Lyserg repeated. "Is she crazy?"

"I get the feeling she's got a few screws loose, yeah, but she's nice enough." Yoh said.

"Yoh, you have to think about how this looks." Lyserg said and Yoh can't help but look at the large X on Lyserg's white uniform. "Marco is already suspicious of you, despite my constant reassurances, something like this… it looks bad."

"What's the harm in being kind?" Yoh said.

"He's the enemy, Yoh!" Lyserg said, gesturing wildly. "He needs to die, not be befriended."

"What's the point in killing him?" Yoh demanded. "All that does is make him stronger the next time around and our families and other families are going to be fighting him until the end of time and more and more people die each time."

"What else are we supposed to do?" Lyserg demanded. "Just let him go about destroying the human race?"

"How about trying to convince him not to?" Yoh replied. Lyserg scoffed scornfully. "He already talks to Geni and I am just willing to bet he's starting to like her. It's not much, but it's a start."

"You can't be serious, Yoh." Lyserg said, sounding befuddled. "After everything he's done to you."

"And after everything Faust has done, and Ren and his family has done, I am still their friend, aren't I?" Yoh replied.

"But this is different." Lyserg protested.

"Listen, I want to do this in a way that prevents people from continuing to get hurt. I don't think I can do that if I try to kill him." Yoh admitted. "I want to know why he hates the human race so much, maybe that will help."

"He's evil, that's all you need to know about his motivation." Lyserg persisted.

"I got an unwanted look into what his soul was like," Yoh shivered as a chill went down his spine with the memory. "It didn't feel evil, I'm not sure what it felt like but it wasn't evil."

"Yoh…" Lyserg sighed.

"I'm not asking you to like the guy, but have a little faith in me, okay?" Yoh said gently. "Have I steered you wrong yet?"

"No." Lyserg admitted.

"Be careful with Marco, I don't think he's quite sane and I'd hate for something to happen to you." Yoh said.

"He's not so bad." Lyserg said, but he didn't sound as though he believed it himself. Yoh chose not to mention the bruises he sometimes still saw and the way Lyserg would move carefully, as though something were paining him.

"Try to get him to lay off Jeanne too, I think she's getting close to punching him in the face." Yoh said.

"I still don't get why she left." Lyserg muttered, frowning.

"I guess it's hard to explain, but have you seen her recently?" Yoh asked.

"Of course."

"Haven't you noticed how happy she looks now?" Yoh asked.

"She does seem pretty happy." Lyserg said.

"Did you ever see her that happy with the X-Laws?" Yoh asked.

"I… I don't think I did." Lyserg admitted.

"Think about that, okay?" Yoh said, and then wandered off. He came across Hao speaking to an upside-down Geni, who was apparently fixing another camera mounted on a building.

"I don't know why people insist on trying to break these things, most of the time it just chips the paint." Geni was saying.

"Well, obviously this one did more than just chip the paint." Hao responded.

"Obviously." Geni said sarcastically with a roll of her eyes. "Otherwise I wouldn't be dangling here with all the blood rushing to my head, which, you know, isn't such a bad sensation."

"Up until you fall on it." Hao replied evenly.

"Been there, done that, got the chipped tooth to prove it." Geni said dismissively. "I am currently channeling Spiderman, therefore I will not fall."

"I hardly see the logic in that." Hao huffed.

"Okay Spock." Geni laughed.

"Who is-" Hao's question was interrupted by a groan of what sounded like immense suffering from Geni.

"Oh fuck, I forgot you've been living under a rock and have no concept of the joys of modern television." She sighed.

"I turned on a television once and there was some orange… woman drinking and dancing. Joy is not the word I would use for it." Hao remarked blandly. Geni let out a barking laugh and slapped her thigh.

"You got Jersey Shore? No wonder you were disgusted, that shit'll rot your brain. In fact, avoid reality TV altogether, it's crap." She said. "No, I'm talking about the good stuff, Star Trek, Doctor Who, CSI, The X-Files, Friends, stories about love and loss and doing what's right and going boldly where no man's gone before and learning that everyone's important. That is quality television."

"I'll have to take your word for it." Hao replied.

"I think you'd like Star Trek and Doctor Who." Geni commented offhandedly. "Of course the original series of Star Trek can be a bit hokey and the effects are laughable, but that's part of its charm I guess. I don't have the first season yet, but I'm still looking, but you could borrow the first series of New Nu, which is the Doctor Who series that got re-started in 2005."

"Do you actually think I will accept such a thing?" Hao queried calmly. Geni looked down at her.

"Uck, I forget that people don't get as excited as I do about things and aren't as willing to try new things." That sounded almost like a challenge. "But, if you're too concerned about being corrupted by my idiotic television show…"

"I am not that easy to manipulate." Hao responded, sounding mildly amused.

"Phooey." Geni muttered.

"But, I will give it a try, if you are going to be this pushy." He conceded.

"Yay! Now the first episode can be a bit hokey, and the CGI is shit, but keep going, at least until the Doctor Dances anyways, you'll see what I mean about quality television then." Geni babbled. "You're meeting Yoh and Jeanne later right?"

"That is correct."

"Excellent, I'll bring it then."


	21. Chapter 21

Star: I own nothing!

"You look tired." Yoh commented as Hao walked into the clearing. Hao glared at him, but it was ruined by a jaw-cracking yawn.

"You can blame Jeanne's pet human for that." He replied.

"Did you like Doctor Who then?" Yoh asked innocently. Hao gave him a sharp look. "I heard the conversation." Yoh explained with a shrug.

"You're apparently quieter than I anticipated." Hao muttered. He suddenly yelped as Geni bounced up in front of him, her face right in his.

"So, what did you think?" She demanded. "You look like you haven't slept a wink, marathoned it did you?"

"Back away, please." Hao growled, using a finger to push her face away.

"Did you get to the Empty Child?" Geni continued, bouncing excitedly.

"Yes, and I'd like to know what messed up mind came up with that." Hao replied. Geni grinned widely and giggled.

"Oh, just wait until you get to season three." She said.

"What's in season three?" Hao demanded suspiciously.

"I'm not tellllliiiiinnnngggggg." Geni sang, giggling to herself. "And neither is princess so you can't go after her."

"Hmph." Hao grumbled.

"So how far did you go?" Geni asked.

"The Doctor Dances." Hao replied.

"Love, love, LOVE that episode, especially the little part at the end, 'just this once, everybody lives'." Geni quoted.

Yoh moved away, wandering out to where Jeanne was doing some graceful looking stretches. "Hey." Yoh said, grinning.

"Good morning." Jeanne replied. She looked over to where Geni was excitedly gesturing about something or other to Hao, and Hao was nodding slightly in reply. "Have you noticed how much more open he is around her?" Jeanne asked.

"I have." Yoh agreed. "It's really quite something, isn't it?"

"You mean the fact that she's human." Jeanne said.

"Exactly." Yoh said. "I wonder what it is about her?"

"It's the fact that she's relentless and eventually she just wears out people's resistance to her." Jeanne said, shaking her head affectionately.

"So what you're saying is Hao's talking to her is a defence mechanism on his part." Yoh suggested.

"Exactly. Easier to indulge her than listen to her just chatter at you and poke at you until you do something to acknowledge her presence." Jeanne laughed. "It seems to work so I don't think she's ever thought to change tactics."

"Well, it's worked on Hao, which is more than I can say about any of my tactics." Yoh said. "I think he doesn't feel there's any ulterior motives to Geni's chatter though, that she's just crazy."

"Hm, that perception does help. I don't think he realizes that he's basically making friends with the enemy." Jeanne stifled a laugh.

"What do you think he'll do when he does realize it?" Yoh asked, sounding worried.

"It depends on how things have progressed, what sort of state of mind he finds himself in I suppose." Jeanne shrugged. "If he does try to hurt her though…"

"Let's just hope it doesn't come to that." Yoh replied. "Come on, we'd better get started before Anna starts yelling."

%&%&%&%

"What in the hell happened?" Hao demanded, finding Geni dangling from the back of the arena's jumbo screen, fiddling with the wires inside. She eyed him with amusement, a screwdriver clenched in her teeth.

"I am assuming you are talking about the end of season one?" She said through a mouthful of screwdriver.

"What else?" Hao snapped.

"It's called regeneration, it's what Time Lords can do when they're dying, they change every atom in their body and they get a personality change as well." Geni explained. "There's twelve regenerations per Time Lord, the one you just saw regenerate was number nine."

"I liked him." Hao grumbled. The new one seemed too… bouncy for his liking. Of course he'd only gotten a few moments of screentime with him, but still. He'd liked the sarcastic, grouchy Doctor and suddenly just as he was really starting to get into the show he was replaced by someone else?

"I bet you'll like ten as well." Geni said idly.

"Hmph." Hao snorted.

"Hey, you never know until you try and you scoffed at the idea of even liking Doctor Who in the first place, and lookey where you are now." Geni pointed out.

"So are you going to get me the next season or not?" Hao demanded. He probably should dial back his eagerness, he didn't need people knowing that he was so invested in a TV show. But, Geni wasn't people, at least, she wasn't the kind of people he felt he needed to be aloof and enigmatic for. She'd probably start laughing at him if he did that to her anyways.

"My bag is on top of the Jumbotron, check in it." Geni said absentmindedly.

"You brought it with you?" Hao said with disbelief.

"As fast as you were blazing through the episodes I figured it was a good idea to have it around so I don't have to go running back and forth." Geni shrugged. Hao walked over to the pin and keychain festooned backpack and pulled out Doctor Who series 2. "There's some good episodes in that one, although the CGI is still crap."

"Do we ever see Jack again?" Hao asked, before he could stop himself.

"Not until season three. He does get his own spin-off series called Torchwood, but I stopped watching after a couple seasons." Geni explained.

"Why is that?" Hao asked.

"Because chugging Drano would be less painful." Geni muttered. Hao raised an eyebrow at her. "Look, I don't know what it's like for you, but us regular, emotionally bound human beings get very invested in our TV shows and movies and books, and we feel for the characters, so when bad and sad things happen to characters we like we get upset."

"They're not real though." Hao pointed out.

"They feel real." Geni replied. "What, you've never had a piece of art evoke some kind of emotional response in you, or gone to a play and gotten caught up in it? Same fucking thing, buddy."

"Buddy?" Hao repeated.

"Would you rather I keep referring to you as an asshole?" Geni replied.

"Actually I was getting kind of fond of the usage of that word." Hao replied. Geni huffed out a soft laugh.

"You actually got a sense of humour hidden in there, good to know, asshole." She said. She looked up and him and grinned and Hao had to restrain himself from smiling back.

"Does that mean I get to bestow upon you some potentially insulting nickname in return?" He asked.

"Well, bitch is already taken by Marco." That startled a laugh out of Hao, which only made Geni grin wider.

"I'll have to think of something else then, although bitch is not a good descriptor for you." Hao admitted. "Psycho, maybe."

"Delinquent works too, that's what the school called me after they caught me kissing Sarah Jenkins in the bathroom." Geni responded.

"You are a strange, strange person." Hao said, shaking his head.

"Well, it is my name, after all."


	22. Chapter 22

Star: I own nothing!

"What is wrong with this show?" Jeanne looked up and couldn't help but burst out laughing at the indignant look on Hao's face.

"Aww, you got to the Weeping Angels, aren't they fun?" Geni teased.

"Fun my ass." Hao growled. Jeanne had noticed he was starting to pick up some of Geni's speech patterns. It was kind of amusing to see the result of Hao spending so much of his free time around Geni. Jeanne wasn't sure Hao realized just how much he talked to her.

"Buddy you wouldn't last five minutes of any of the Alien movies." Geni commented. She took a sip from her cola. "Anyways, ain't you crazy kids supposed to be getting ready for your next match? The pain in the ass is your opponent, isn't he?"

"Which one?" Hao asked, sounding dangerously close to joking.

"Marco, the failure of a guardian." Geni scoffed.

"Are you ever going to let that go?" Jeanne asked with amusement.

"Nope." Geni replied.

"Let what go?" Hao asked.

"The fact that Marco the moron never thought to teach his obviously blooming teenager about puberty." Geni replied bluntly.

"I think I understand your ire then." Hao said. "And yes, we should be getting into the arena. Have either of you seen Yoh?"

"Here!" Yoh called, running up. "Sorry, Chocolove was freaking out about the match, I stayed to try and calm him down a bit." A couple weeks ago Hao would have made some backhanded compliment about Yoh being soft-hearted, but now he simply raised an eyebrow at his twin. "He's actually more worried about Marco than he is about you." He explained.

"I'm not sure if I should be insulted by that." Hao replied, folding his arms across his chest.

"Don't be. He knows better than to underestimate you, but he feels like Marco's… unstable. He's worried if they lose, when they lose he actually said, that Marco will take it out on him and Macchi. He's more worried about Macchi actually."

"How noble of him." Hao said. It wasn't sneering though, and Jeanne couldn't really get a sense of how Hao felt about Chocolove's worry. "Macchi can handle herself though."

"Against Marco?" Yoh asked.

"I will not allow harm to come to her, in any case, she is one of my most loyal followers and I am loath to lose her." Hao said. Yoh nodded his head.

"That's a bit of a relief then. I said I'd also help out if he attacked one of them too." He said. Hao tilted his head at Yoh, bright eyes staring through him.

"You would defend one of my people?" He asked.

"Haven't I always?" Yoh shrugged.

"True…" Hao said in a musing tone. There was something strange in the way he was looking at Yoh, like he was seeing him for the very first time. Maybe he was, in a way.

"Alrightey, time to get this show on the road. Be good, play nice with the other kids, unless of course the other kids wanna fight, then you gotta kick the other kids' butts." Geni said. Hao looked at her.

"You are seriously deranged." He commented.

"I've been here weeks and he's just figuring this out now?" Geni said to Jeanne. Hao gave her a look and strode haughtily into the arena, Jeanne and Yoh flanking him. Marco, Chocolove and Macchi were already there, Marco glaring hate at Hao.

"Leave Marco to me." Hao said. "He'll be going after me anyways and if you two get in his way he might just hurt you to get you out of the way."

"Careful Hao, that sounds suspiciously like you care what happens to us." Jeanne said.

"Well it would be a bother to have to find new teammates that I can actually work with." Hao replied with a smirk. It wasn't the uncomfortably conceited smirk that he used to wear, but something new, something that was almost friendly.

"We'll deal with the other two, they'll probably avoid coming in contact with Marco." Yoh said. "We'll back you up if we think you need it."

"I doubt I will." Hao replied.

"Always be prepared for the possibility." Yoh responded. "This is going to be one of those fights that you start to wonder if we're all going to come out alive, isn't it?"

"Most likely." Jeanne agreed. "This will not be fun."

"Depends on your idea of fun." Hao retorted. Jeanne gave him a look and he turned away, but not before she saw a flash of a smile.

The battle was as brutal as Jeanne thought it would be. She and Yoh had to constantly dance out of the way of the two titans battling it out above them, one a so-called angel, the other a being of fire, which one might equate to a devil. Jeanne knew better now though, to judge by appearances and she felt a twinge of fear for Hao. Marco was smart, and he was desperate.

She was up against Chocolove, and Yoh was fighting Macchi. She and Yoh moved in tandem still, finding that occasionally their opponents would try a combined attack. The silent understanding that had helped them in their other fights was with them still, and Jeanne thought that if she tried hard enough she'd be able to feel the very thoughts of her teammates.

Suddenly, just as she was wearing Chocolove down to the last of his furyiochu Marco changed tactics and went after Yoh instead. Jeanne slammed her opponent, knocking him out of the ring and out of the running and shot out her chain-whip, catching Michael the Archangel's arm before his sword fell on Yoh. Yoh moved and blocked Michael's other hand, pinning it with his sword. Macchi was out already. Yoh and Jeanne's eyes met and she knew they were both thinking the same thing; keep him still.

She braced herself as Michael struggled, needing to hold on just long enough. Then the Spirit of Fire came down like a bolt of lightning, shattering through the archangel like it was glass. Marco sank to his knees, exhausted, as his furyiochu ran out. Hao descended and bowed mockingly to the captain of the X-Laws as cheers rose from the audience.

"Thank you, though I would have been fine on my own." He said to Yoh and Jeanne.

"What makes you think we were doing for you?" Jeanne replied, as haughty as he was. "Marco was attacking Yoh, we stopped him from being able to do so. Really Hao, it's not all about you, you know."

Hao looked at her for a moment and then chuckled softly. "I'm not sure whether to be amused or insulted by your imitation of me."

"Well, they say imitation is the highest form of flattery." Yoh mused.

"And the highest form of mockery." Hao said. Yoh inclined his head in agreement.

"You're bleeding." He commented, pointing to Hao's cloak. Hao looked down, completely unconcerned.

"So I am. I didn't realize he'd managed to score a hit on me." He said in a bored tone.

"I'd offer to fix it, but I think you can do it yourself and would be insulted by my suggestion." Jeanne said.

"Perhaps, perhaps not." Hao replied. "It's not deep, his aim is terrible."

"That's what she said." Geni cheerfully commented as she skipped up. Jeanne snorted with laughter. Hao gave Geni a bland look.

"I don't understand the humour." He commented.

"It's a sex joke. His aim is terrible, she said." Geni explained. "Come on, you're smart, you can figure it out."

"Oh. Oh!" Yoh laughed. "That's dirty."

"The best kind of jokes are." Geni replied.

"I get it, it's not that funny." Hao said.

"That's because you like to act all hoity-toity, asshole." Geni countered. "Come on, are we celebrating, or what? Maybe this time I can con some booze out of the bartender."

"Keep dreaming, Psycho." Hao said

"At least change your shirt, asshole." Geni replied. Jeanne and Yoh exchanged a look, smiling and then followed after the lightly bickering pair.


	23. Chapter 23

Star: I own nothing!

"There's something that worries me a bit now that Marco is out of the tournament." Hao commented, running a finger over the rim of his glass. Horohoro was singing, badly, at the karaoke machine and he winced at a screeching high note.

"He's not as bad as me." Geni pointed out with a laugh. "And something worries you? Stop the presses I think the apocalypse has begun."

"Very funny." Hao said drily. "This is serious, Geni, I know that's a foreign concept to you, but try to bear with me."

"Now who's being funny?" Geni retorted. "So, talk."

"Marco's main obstacle to attacking you was the fact that he would be kicked out of the tournament and be unable to compete." Hao explained. "Now that he's out of the tournament…"

"He may find it worth getting kicked out of the valley if it means taking Geni out." Hao looked at Jeanne and then nodded. "He has a point." She said to her girlfriend.

"And I have protection." Geni reminded them both, displaying the heavy silver ring on her finger.

"No offence to Silva, but his spirits aren't exactly on the same level as Marco." Hao said.

"Excuse me!" Silver Wing protested, materializing and glaring at Hao.

"I'm not saying you're not powerful, but you on your own can only do so much without Silva to help." Hao pointed out. Silver Wing grumbled, but didn't argue the point. "And in any case, like I said, Michael the Archangel is very powerful."

"So, what are you suggesting? I cannot be with Geni all the time, although I'd like to." Jeanne asked.

"Something similar to what is already in place, a bodyguard of sorts, with certain… abilities beyond that of a regular spirit." Hao said.

"Speak English please." Geni sighed, rolling her eyes.

"If I give a spirit a totem infused with my power, it'll make him able to form an Oversoul on his own and fight for you." Hao explained. "I've done it before."

"And you wanna do this, for me?" Geni asked, looking bemused.

"I thought that was clear." Hao said stiffly. Geni chuckled and reached over, patting his shoulder.

"Careful Hao, people might start to think you actually care." She teased.

"Maybe I do." Hao replied quietly. It was a big thing for him to admit, that he actually cared about what happened to the mildly crazy human. Jeanne's mouth was hanging open in total shock and Geni looked like someone had told her she'd won the lottery, a huge grin firmly plastered on her face.

"Does this mean you won't try to kill me if I try to hug you or braid your hair?" She asked.

"Why would you be braiding my hair?" Hao asked.

"Because it's long and soft and I wanna play with it." Geni shrugged. "So anyways, you wanna do this for me, so why haven't you done it already?"

"Well there's the matter of letting you know and making certain you don't feel offended by me wanting to give you another bodyguard of sorts." Hao replied. "And there's a good chance that the being I have in mind may not come to my call. We had a… falling out of sorts, in my first life."

"Gee, I wonder why." Jeanne muttered. Hao glared at her, but she wasn't far off the mark with the statement. It was hard for him to admit though, that it had been his fault. "So how do you propose to get this spirit to help then?"

"He'd probably come for Yoh." Hao admitted, still fiddling with his glass.

"Then why not ask Yoh for help?" Geni asked. Hao was silent, reluctant to voice the childish worry in his mind.

"You think he won't help you?" Jeanne asked. Hao said nothing. "I don't think you have to worry about that to be honest, especially if he knows it's to help Geni. Yoh has always been the forgiving sort, even towards you."

"And you know that for certain?" Hao scoffed.

"He has spoken to you kindly, and has extended multiple invitations to join in with him and his friends in celebration, has he not?" Jeanne pointed out.

"That doesn't mean much." Hao muttered rebelliously.

"It means everything." Jeanne persisted. "You're never going to know until you ask." She added in a gentler tone. Hao eyed her for a moment.

"Since when did you start liking me?" He demanded. Jeanne shrugged nonchalantly.

"You not only put up with Geni, but you consider her in high enough standings to want to protect her." She replied, as though it was explanation enough. Perhaps it was.

"Later, he's having fun." Hao said, looking over to where a laughing Yoh was being dragged onto the karaoke stage. He looked so young, which was of course silly to think because Yoh was young. But sometimes Hao would catch this look on Yoh's face that made him look so much older, more tired, like the weight of the world was resting on his shoulders. In a way he supposed it was.

%&%&%&%

"I need to ask you a favour." Yoh looked up at Hao and rested his elbows on the table. Ren had left and Chocolove and Horohoro were singing karaoke again.

"You're asking me for a favour?" Yoh asked, his mind trying to catch up to what Hao was saying.

"Yes." Hao answered. He looked uncomfortable.

"What for?" Yoh asked.

"I am concerned for Geni's safety." Hao started.

"Marco." Yoh guessed. Hao nodded his head, dark eyes daring Yoh to make any comment about his concerns. "You want some way to protect her."

"I have an idea of how I can do that." Hao said. "But I do not know if the one that I am thinking of will help me."

"Why wouldn't… wait, Matamune?" Yoh guessed. Hao nodded his head. "You want me to help convince him to come back?"

"He will probably respond to you." Hao replied. "I supply you with the power and the spell and you call to him, does that sound fair?"

"When?" Yoh asked.

"As soon as possible, I don't trust Marco's sanity." Hao replied. "It's not complicated, I just need you-"

"To actually get Matamune to listen." Yoh finished. "Should bring Geni and Jeanne too."

"I was planning on it." Hao said, getting up. "Come on." Yoh got up and headed to the door, shooting his friends a reassuring smile as Hao got Geni and Jeanne to follow. It was night time and the air had cooled some. Hao led them to the clearing where they trained, doing something with one of his earrings.

"Why not use the bear claw necklace again?" Yoh asked.

"I thought you might want to keep that, sentimentality and all that." Hao replied. Yoh touched the necklace and nodded slightly. "Now, I need to be linked with you, my power will flow through you and you will call to him. Can you do that?"

Yoh hesitated for a moment, his mind immediately flickering back to The Fight, as he referred to it in his head. Hao's eyes flickered as they stared into his and after a moment they softened, a strange expression coming over his face. Hao sat down on the grass, cross-legged.

"Don't worry, once was enough." Hao said in the gentlest tone he'd ever heard him use. "We're not nearly as compatible as I believed."

Yoh hesitated for a moment more and then went and sat down in front of Hao. His heart was thudding in his ears but he was going to do this. He wanted Hao to see that he would trust him and he wanted to be able to trust Hao. Hao's dark eyes stared into his, knowing his struggles. Hao placed his hands out, palm up and Yoh placed his hands over them.

It felt… strange. It started like a tingling over his skin and then itched as Hao's power seemed to settle through him. He didn't realize he was trembling until a spike of concern echoed through Hao's power. _I'm fine. _He thought desperately. _We need to do this. _He could feel Hao's scepticism, but the older twin didn't argue and just softly began to mumble a spell.

_This is your part._ Hao said through their link. _Call to him. _Yoh felt Hao's power thrumming through him, an odd sensation that tasted and smelled vaguely like cinnamon and burnt sugar. He called to Matamune and felt an answering call back. Almost immediately the small split-tail cat spirit appeared in front of him, smiling.

"Hello again." Yoh said, releasing Hao's hands, feeling that well of power leave him. He felt a little dizzy.

"Yoh, my friend, how are you?" Matamune asked.

"Great!" Yoh replied enthusiastically. Hao huffed out a laugh, drawing Matamune's attention. He went still, tail twitching slightly in suspicion. "It's okay, he was helping me."

"To what end?" Matamune asked tersely.

"We have a… friend… who is going to need protection and we were hoping you would agree." Hao explained, almost hesitantly.

"And who is this… friend?" Matamune asked.

"That would be me." Geni said, bounding up energetically. "Hello, I'm Geni, that's G-E-N-I, it means strange in Swahili." Matamune blinked rapidly a few times.

"You are human." He commented.

"Last I checked, still haven't become a dragon, much to my dismay." Geni replied cheerily.

"And she is your friend?" Matamune asked Hao.

"It's a better description than pain-in-the-ass Psycho who refuses to leave me alone and feeds my growing Doctor Who addiction." Hao said sardonically. Yoh snorted a laugh.

"Ooh, I need to get that on a plaque or something." Geni laughed. "Anyways, the problem is I pissed off the wrong guy because his so-called goddess decided she liked being a human being more than just a symbol and came out as a lesbian, so now I got a target on my head and he's out of the fight so there's no reason for him to avoid attacking me now."

"Translation, please?" Matamune asked weakly. Hao quickly explained about the X-Laws, Jeanne and Geni's hand in turning Jeanne into the woman she was today. "I see." Matamune said. "I agree to help then, it should be interesting."

"You have no idea." Hao deadpanned. He held out the earring that he'd spelled. "It will grant you the same kind of power you had before." He said to Matamune. Matamune hesitated a moment and then took it. Hao'a breath came out in what could have been a sigh of relief.

"It's good to see you, my old friend." Matamune murmured.

"It's good to see you again too." Hao said, smiling completely at last.


	24. Chapter 24

Star: I own nothing!

"I hate you." Geni looked up and laughed at Hao.

"Oh god, you got to Journey's End, didn't you?" She chortled. Hao glared at her. "Welcome to the fandom, would you like tears or pain?"

"He keeps yelling at the TV." Kanna said helpfully. Hao turned his glare on her, but she seemed to realize it wasn't all that serious and merely shrugged.

"You know, I really, really wish I was around when you are watching this, because you sound like fun to watch with." Geni said. "Why don't you come over to our place, we can watch the specials."

"You're inviting me over?" Hao asked, incredulous.

"Yeah, isn't that what friends are for? Watch stuff with you and then laugh at your reactions?" Geni grinned widely.

"You're a bad influence." Hao growled.

"Um, hello." Jeanne said, indicating herself.

"You have a point." Hao admitted. He waved his followers away. It was interesting to note that the Hanagumi girls went to mingle with Yoh's friends.

"Getting into the endgame." Geni commented. The final round of the tournament was one-on-one combat. Jeanne and Yoh still practiced together with Hao calling out tips from the sidelines.

"Hm. He always ends up alone, doesn't he?" Geni didn't have to ask what she meant.

"That's the curse of the Time Lords." She replied. "It is pretty sad though, especially when you think everything's going to be alright for once."

"Hm. Who is River Song, anyways?" Hao asked. "Also, the Vashta Narada, why?"

"For your second question, because fuck you, that's why." Geni giggled. "As for your first, spoilers." Hao growled at her, which only made her laugh harder. "In all seriousness though, we should watch the Christmas special together, you'll get to see me break down in hysterical sobs."

"Oh, well how can I say no to that?" Hao asked sardonically.

"I know, right?" Geni replied cheerily. "Did you know that Matamune is a junk food junkie?"

"Really?" Hao raised an eyebrow at the cat spirit. "Well, he did like sugared fruits so I'm not entirely surprised."

"So come over tonight, we'll do popcorn, junk food, the whole shebang." Geni offered.

"If I say no you'll just bother me until I say yes, so I'll say yes now and save myself the headache." Hao said, rolling his eyes.

"Yay!" Geni cheered.

%&%&%&%

"You seriously think you need this much junk food?" was Hao's first question when he stepped into their home.

"Have you seen how much princess eats?" Geni countered. "Not to mention the Baron eats as much junk as he can get his paws on because he can't get a stomach ache."

"The Baron?" Hao asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Matamune reminds me of a character in a movie, so I call him the Baron." Geni shrugged.

"It's a lot better than Kitty Cat, that's for sure." Matamune said drily from atop the television set.

"My nickname is asshole, so count yourself lucky." Hao replied. Matamune snorted and went back to reading. Hao sat at one end of the couch with Jeanne on the other. Geni put in the DVD and plopped down between them, laying her head in Jeanne's lap and resting her feet against Hao's side.

"You know, if I wasn't totally one hundred percent not into guys and you weren't so not into sex, I'd suggest a threesome." Geni said out of the blue as the DVD fired up. Jeanne proceeded to choke on her soda and Hao just stared at Geni.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" He demanded while Jeanne started laughing in between coughing.

"So many, many things." Geni replied.

"Alright, if we're done creating very obscene mental images." Jeanne said primly, turning on the episode.

Hao was struck by something as he watched. He was comfortable with these people. It was a bit of a frightening thing to realize, that he was perfectly fine with the thought of letting all his defences, all his masks to fall away around these people. He realized then that he was starting to feel the same way about Yoh as well.

He focused on the show after that, not wanting to think of the implications of his epiphany. It was easy to be drawn into Doctor Who, and he did so eagerly, enjoying seeing Wilf again. Of course with Doctor Who the fun never lasted and by the end he was listening to Jeanne and Geni's quiet sniffles and holding back tears of his own.

"I don't like him." He declared, feeling a little petulant, once the screen went blank.

"You said that about the last one." Geni reminded him in a sing-song voice.

"Hmph." Hao grumpily snorted. He was silent for a long time, thinking on the Doctor's regeneration.

"Something strike a chord with you?" Jeanne asked, looking honestly curious.

"A few things." He didn't elaborate, give voice to the new thought that was forming in his head. It was only a thought at this stage anyways, no real motivation behind it, but it was an idea all the same.

"The writers pulled out all the stops with this one, that's for sure." Geni commented, stretching out her legs. "Gets me every time."

"You were making some rather suspicious noises over there." Hao teased.

"Oh come off it, I'm absolutely one hundred percent certain I saw tears in your eyes." Geni retorted playfully.

"Then you are delusional as well as insane." Hao replied haughtily.

"Aren't they the same thing?" Geni asked, tilting her head at him, grinning wildly.

"In your case, probably." Hao stately. "I will give the new guy one thing though."

"What's that?" Jeanne asked.

"He did manage to soften the blow a little bit with humour." Hao admitted.

"He's good with that." Geni said. "Let's watch the first episode of season five. I bet you that you'll like him by the end of the episode."

"And if you lose that bet?" Hao asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I stop singing for a week." Geni replied.

"Ooh, you're obviously confident in your assumption." Hao said. "Alright, I accept."

"Yes!" Geni cheered, launching off the couch and skipping over to the DVD player.

"How do you deal with that all the time?" Hao asked Jeanne.

"I've had a few years' experience with her." Jeanne replied. "It helps a lot."

"Alright you two gossips, I know you're talking about me, now shush, the Doctor is on." Geni said, plopping herself back down between the two of them. Hao tried not to like the new Doctor, he really did, but he found he just could not.

"Alright." He sighed when the episode was over. "You win."

"I told you!" Geni crowed triumphantly. "Damn it I didn't make any sort of punishment for you losing the bet."

"Oh, how sad for me." Hao said sarcastically.

"You get this one for free." Geni told him.

"How kind of you." Hao said, rolling his eyes. "Can I have the season, please?"

"Alright, but we'll do the season finale together, I wanna see how you react to that." Geni said with a grin.

"Of course you do." Hao grumbled, taking the DVD set.

"See you tomorrow." Jeanne called as he headed out. Hao nodded his head briefly and wandered out into the night, feeling more at peace than he had for a long, long time.


End file.
